Publisher's Synopsis
This classic study clearly sets out the story of changing political attitudes towards the problem of poverty in Britain from the 1880s, and describes in detail the legislative attempts to deal with it in the first decade of the twentieth century. Focusing on social legislation such as health and unemployment insurance, old age pensions and the improvemnt of basic school standards, Gilbert demonstrates that there were both political and philanthropic motivations for chnage following the breakdown of hte deterrent Poor Law. The fear of socialism; the political profit to be gained from welfare legislation; the "condition of the people question", and the immediate concern of the poor physical condition of the Boer War recruits - all ensured the problems of poverty were tackled by the establishment of the socical insurance.
