How effective were the Liberal social reforms in the period 1906 to 1914? In the early Twentieth Century poverty in Britain was a very serious issue. There were groups of society who had no way of tackling or rising out of poverty. Poverty was more evident in the North of Britain and in big cities, although rural poverty was also a problem. Particularly vulnerable groups were the old, who had no means of acquiring money.
They also live for the moment (present gratification). Some sociologists say that these attitudes and values prevent people from escaping poverty. For example, the attitudes and values of the poor mean that many don't stay in education, so they can't use qualifications to escape from their poverty. Some sociologists criticise this explanation of poverty because although it shows how people in poverty might adapt to their situation, it doesn't explain why people are in poverty in the first place. Another explanation of poverty is the poverty cycle.
The law brought positive changes to the country encouraging more people to seek employment, “working people developed their own self-help movement”. Walsh M, et al, 2000. But also created some negative changes, working conditions were extremely harsh and families were split up. The amendment act was disliked by the poor population of the country because of the leissez-faire system the government had in place, the government’s approach on leissez-faire was to intervene as little as possible with the direction of economic affairs. This had an impact on the poor, it caused stigma and the poor had a mark of disgrace on their reputation.
In some parishes this was collected by the churches in others they had specific collectors. The rich and middle classes felt that they were subsidising the poor to be lazy and not take responsibility for themselves and that the poor were just avoiding work and not supporting their own families. They also felt that if the hand outs continued they would never use their own initiative to fund and support themselves and that the existing system encouraged people to have more children than they could afford because they knew their life would be subsidised, so because of this, in 1832 Earl Grey the prime minister set up a poor law commission to examine the existing system and make reforms. The commission led by Nassau Senior and Edwin Chadwick wanted an end to outdoor relief for the poor and were positive that the workhouses would be a success (Bagley,1966 pg 48) The Royal Commissions findings were published and the recommendations become the basis of the poor law amendment act (Checkland 1974). Summary of the 1834 Poor Law amendment act.
Tariffs making goods scarce and heavy taxation meant prices for Russian consumers increased, whilst their wages stayed low. Workers had poor living and working conditions, and their discontent was severely repressed.
This was not fair as the peasants didn’t have enough money as it was, before they had to pay money to the Church and Nobles. By the time the peasants had paid all of their taxes, they just about had enough money to feed themselves and their families, which meant no luxuries. They were working so hard and yet they didn’t get the money they deserved for doing it. The Revolution changed this. Peasants no longer had to pay taxes to the Church and Nobles, which meant that they didn’t have to just scrape by life, they could enjoy it.
As shown in Source E, the people with more income are for getting rid of the penny, while the more poor people are against the abolishment. This is probably because the more upper class people do not have to pay for simple things with the pennies they find on the streets. Poorer people who make less than $25,000 a year obviously don’t have good jobs, probably not full coverage health insurance, and a lot of the time, have more children to take care of. Due to the insurance they have, their prescriptions and doctor co pays are very expensive. Penny pinching may be these deprived people’s only option in paying bills.
Whether it was to try to help their parents make more money, or to feed themselves, they would work. Some of the problems the workers would have were the lack of time and of money. They worked under very poor conditions, and did not have many privileges. Incidents like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory had major effects on the way the escapes in buildings were designed. Anyways all these incidents, made a difference, the government
Many people did not have money to spend in businesses and businesses also took out loans that needed to be paid back. However, without business they were not making any money resulting in business failure. This also hurt the economy. After the war the price of grain dropped and farmers
Stratification is a division of a society’s resources that benefits some people and harms others. Social position reflects the way society divides resources. Unequal rewards only serve to divide society, creating “haves” and “have-nots.” There is widespread opposition to social inequality. Using a structural-functional approach to look at the demise of the middle class would point out that the middle class is sliding backwards due to a lack of personal talent and ability. Since