Hard and unreal advice : mothers, social science, and the Victorian poverty experts

This Is The First Detailed And Systematic Study Of The Social Science Of Poverty As Practiced By The Victorian Experts Who Had So Much Influence On Relief Policy In This Area, And Who Were Among The Founders Of British Social Science. The Book Examines What They Knew, Or What They Thought They Knew, About The Poor. Prologue: Victorian Social Science In A Twentieth-century World -- Introduction To Victorian Poverty Studies -- Two Royal Commissions -- Protestant Paradigms In Victorian Poverty Studies -- Political Economy And The New Poor Law -- From Political Economy To Social Science -- Ignoble Savages On Relief: Social Darwinism In Late Victorian Poverty Studies -- Science And Pseudoscience In Victorian And Edwardian Poverty Studies -- Three Case Studies In A Priori Social Science -- Unanswered Questions, Unasked Questions, And An Experimental Counter-hypothesis -- Why Critique The Victorian Social Science Of Poverty? Kathleen Callanan Martin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The first detailed and systematic study of the social science of poverty as practiced by the Victorian experts who had so much influence on relief policy in this area, and who were among the founders of British social science. The book examines what they knew, or what they thought they knew, about the poor.$bThis is the story of a set of ideas that, in Britain and the United States, have dominated public opinion and public policy on the subject of poverty for nearly two centuries. From the beginings of social science in Britain, these ideas have shaped the methods of poverty researchers. In their role as experts, these poverty researchers have in turn shaped the public debate on social welfare. They were among the founders of British social science, yet their writings on the poor have never been systematically examined to see how they obtained their information. This work does just that, tracing the influence of religious and economic ideas on their research about 'slum mothers'. Some of their names are well known: Charles Booth, Beatrice Webb, Malthus. Others, while less famous, were nonetheless influential in setting the agenda for poverty research down to the present day This is the story of a set of ideas that, in Britain and the United States, have dominated public opinion and public policy on the subject of poverty for nearly two centuries. From the beginings of social science in Britain, these ideas have shaped the methods of poverty researchers. In their role as experts, these poverty researchers have in turn shaped the public debate on social welfare. They were among the founders of British social science, yet their writings on the poor have never been systematically examined to see how they obtained their information. This work does just that, tracing the influence of religious and economic ideas on their research about 'slum mothers'. Some of their names are well known: Charles Booth, Beatrice Webb, Malthus. Others, while less famous, were nonetheless influential in setting the agenda for poverty research down to the present day. But did they get it right?