English Poor Law - Case Study Example

English poor Laws (Word Count) English Poor Law Introduction As soon as the Poor Law came into action it experienced heavy amount of criticism, the criticism was led by two renowned individuals; Thomas Robert Malthus and Jeremy Bentham (FRASER, 1973, p. 47). These figures have altered the way society looks at assisting the poor and the meagre and these two individuals are a part of debate every time policy makers focus on helping the needy. Body Bentham against English Poor Laws Bentham criticized the Poor Law Reforms of 1795 to 1797 in three different ways. His first criticism towards the laws was that the bill was created under the assumption that all the poor people are in need of relief and all of them fall under the category of those who deserve assistance.1 According to him the bill has failed to differentiate among those who deserve to be assisted and those who do not deserve to be assisted and to create a distinction between these individuals, the policy makers require to have clear eligibility criteria for relief. According to him, individuals who deserve to gain assistance were those who can not work at all and even those who work as seasonal workers have to remain unemployed for a certain period of time. He further believes that among the poor are even those who are lazy and do not want to work and they rely on the assistance provided through programs such as the Poor Laws. 1. Fraser, D., The evolution of the British Welfare State; a history of social policy since the Industrial Revolution, Macmillan, London, 1973 He suggests that such individuals are not worthy of being eligible and being helped and fall in the category of those who do not deserve assistance. He believes that if an individual wants to be aided by reforms such as the Poor Law, he/she should reflect that he is in need and he/she falls in the category of those who deserve assistance. The second reason due to which Bentham criticized the English Poor Law was that the Poor Law was treating all needy as equals and the assistance they were being provided was equal regardless of their conditions, he suggested this through his philosophy.2 He believed that all poor are provided equal assistance whether they deserved or did not deserve to be aided by the Poor Laws. He believes that such activities are against the principle of utilitarianism.2 According to the rule of utilitarianism; act is considered right if the act results in highest amount of benefits for high number of people and the Poor Laws were against this principle. Chadwick, who was a major part of the Royal Commissions report, stated that workhouses should be used in a manner so that lower number of people claimed for assistance.2 Bentham was of the belief that wages should be allowed to be set in accordance to the free market system and should be overseen by the authorities. 2. Edsall, N. C., The Anti-Poor Law movement, 1834-44, Manchester University Press, Manchester, Eng, 1971 The third reason due to which Bentham criticized the poor law reform was that the reform was like a guarantee of income to all individuals.3 This means that individuals believed that whether they work for their survival or not, the government will assist them and they do not really need to work. Bentham even criticized the Cow money clause of the Poor law; he believed that such assistance was not really assistance, but a bribe to gain votes of those individuals who vote during elections of the government.3 Malthus against English Poor Laws Malthus, another renowned criticizer of the English Poor Law is one of the individuals who hold a very extremist like view of the English Poor Law.4 Politicians and policy makers are greatly influenced by Malthus’ philosophies as they state that the cost of helping the poor is increasing day by day just because these poor families are increasing in size. Keeping Malthus’ view of population of the poor it is wrong to suggest that poverty is created due to the economic system. Malthus was of the view that poverty is caused because of issues faced by the working class in obtaining survival. According to him, this difficulty can be contained by controlling the poor people within the society. Malthus believed that supply of workers can only be restricted if child birth is restricted before marriage and marriages are delayed until the individuals within the family can afford to raise a family. 3. Blaug, M., The Myth of the Old Poor Law and the Making of the New. Journal of Economic History Blaug, 1963, p. 151-184 4. Oxley, G. W., Poor relief in England and Wales; 1601-1834, David & Charles, Newton Abbot [Eng.], 1974. Malthus stated that poverty is caused because of the laws that are natural and are associated with growth of population as well as production of agricultural products and poverty can never be countered through alterations with laws governing humans and organization. He uses his arguments while criticizing the English Poor Laws and the policy makers who believe that the improvement of the lifestyle of the Britain’s working class can be made through changes in human laws and institutions. He believes that inequality can not be abolished and an effort made to bring every one on the same level will only lead to increase in the population of the poor as increase in the number of citizens can not be governed until the population starts using methods such as abortion and contraceptives.5 He further stated that increase in population is leading to decrease in resources and due to this no changes can be made to improve the conditions of the working class. He believed that the working class can only improve its conditions if they earn more and the increase in population is restricted and governed. Malthus has criticized the Poor Laws directly through his writing recognized as the Essay on Population, in this essay he stated that Britain has experienced heavy increase in the number of poor people and it is very difficult to restrict this increase a nation that is a flourishing state. He stated that it is very difficult to completely wipe of the poor laws because the society has been heavily dependant on the Poor Laws and a huge population has become dependant on the relief provided through Poor Laws.5 5. Englander, D., Poverty and Poor Law Reform in Nineteenth Century Britain, 1834-1914, Pearson Education Limited, England, 1998 He suggests that since immediate abolishment can not take place, policy makers should try to counter the effects of the laws and counter further spread of the laws and slowly and gradually these laws should be put to end. He believes that the first step towards helping the working class is to stop providing the rights of the poor to the poor as poor laws are developing problems such as dissatisfaction and dependency. He states that second change that should be brought to the laws is to stop providing relief to legal and illegal children through parish; he advanced this notion as he was of the idea that these changes will not counter marriages but will result in immorality of the offspring. He even believed that poor does not need to be punished, they will be punished naturally as they will become poor and will start relying on money provided by the private sector instead of the public sector. He even stated that the changes to the laws proposed by him will definitely increase the hardships experienced by the poor and these hardships should be elevated by not providing charity to the poor through private means.5 He was against the increase in charity provided by the poor because he believed that increase in private charity would counter the changes he has proposed and will not help in obtaining the purpose of abolishing the laws for poor. He had complete believe in his opinions and he believed his opinions can achieve the purpose of decrease poverty rate and completely erasing poverty. 5. Englander, D., Poverty and Poor Law Reform in Nineteenth Century Britain, 1834-1914, Pearson Education Limited, England, 1998 Changes As a result of the heavy criticism of the poor laws, various changes were made to the poor laws during the era of 1834 and the poor laws were amended completely.3 Some of the changes include: transfer of supervision of the laws from the hands of the parishes to the hands of the commissioners, the criteria on which the relief was provided was altered and the standards of eligibility were changed and the working conditions of the workhouse were decreased to the level which worse than working under any other environment. Those individuals who were admitted into the workhouse were separated from their family members and treated separately.3 The relief provided through the new poor laws was only provided to those who were born within the nation and outside settlers were no longer provided relief. In order to counter child birth, relief provided to mothers who gave birth to illegal children was abolished. 3. Blaug, M., The Myth of the Old Poor Law and the Making of the New. Journal of Economic History Blaug, 1963, p. 151-184 Conclusion The changes brought to the poor laws were completely justified under the theories proposed by Bentham and Malthus. Bentham stands correct when he states that poor relief should encourage people t work instead of discouraging them. The change of making the working conditions worse within the workhouses was correct because when people will find that the relief and assistance they are provided are causing hardships in their lives, they will look for other ways to earn their survival and stop relying on relief provided by the government. Secondly, Malthus states that poor relief does not counter poverty, instead it gives rise to poverty and to decrease poverty population growth need to be countered. When relief provided through poor laws will create hardships for individuals, individuals will stop indulging in activities that create illegal children and thus the problem of increase in poverty will be countered. References Blaug, M., The Myth of the Old Poor Law and the Making of the New. Journal of Economic History Blaug, 1963, p. 151-184. Edsall, N. C., The Anti-Poor Law movement, 1834-44, Manchester University Press, Manchester, Eng, 1971. Englander, D., Poverty and Poor Law Reform in Nineteenth Century Britain, 1834-1914, Pearson Education Limited, England, 1998 Fraser, D., The evolution of the British Welfare State; a history of social policy since the Industrial Revolution, Macmillan, London, 1973. Oxley, G. W., Poor relief in England and Wales; 1601-1834, David & Charles, Newton Abbot [Eng.], 1974. Read More