The Solidarities of Strangers : The English Poor Laws and the People, 1700–1948

Omtale

A study of English policies toward the poor from the 1600s to the present, Lees shows how clients and officials negotiated welfare settlements. Changing cultural definitions of entitlement, rather than available resources, determined amounts and beneficiaries, creating cycles of generosity and meanness that affected men and women unequally.