Booth and Rowntree:In what ways did Booth and Rowntree

increase pressure for welfare reform through compiling reports into poverty?

What caused

attitudes to change?

National Efficiency

National Security

‘New’ Liberalism

Pressure from

reports on poverty

Political Pragmatis

m

Poverty How would you define poverty? What standard of living would you

describe as being below the poverty line?

How much do you think you would need to cover your basic costs each month?› Food? Rent?› Clothes?› Fuel?

Charles Booth Born into a wealthy ship-

owning family in Liverpool 1886-1903 he investigated

living conditions, income and spending of 4000 people in London

Found over 30% of Londoners were living below the ‘poverty line’

Divided poor into 4 groups Worked out that poverty was

caused by problems related to unemployment and low wages, not due to the poor themselves

Seebohm Rowntree

Born into the sweet-makers Rowntree, a Quaker family

Interested in Booth’s findings and wondered if they would be confirmed in York

He investigated and found about 28% people in York living below the poverty line

Divided poverty into two categories – Primary poverty, Secondary poverty

Wrote a book – ‘Poverty: a study of Town Life’

Seebohm Rowntree produced this graph to illustrate the ages at which an individual might be above or below the “Primary poverty line”.

Mark the following points on the graph where you think Rowntree originally marked them himself:a. Marriesb. Children begin to earnc. Children marry and leave homed. Labourer too old to work

From this, what appear to be the 5 main causes of poverty?

5%

10%

5%

22%52%

6%Unemployment / Underemployment

Death of Wage earner

Illness or old age of wage earner

Low wages

Large family

Other

Questions

1. How did Booth define the poor? 2. Can you identify any problems with Booth’s report? 3. What did Booth view as the main causes of poverty?

How was this different to previous attitudes. 4. Explain why Poorhouses were shown to be inadequate

following Booths report. 5. Describe in your own words Rowntree’s definition of

poverty. 6. What do you think the impact of these reports would

have been on: › A) the public B) the government