The British Welfare State

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The idea behind the welfare state was to relieve poverty, reduce inequality, and achieve greater

social integration and solidarity, and in Britain these aims were sorely wanted after world war two .

This desire for the welfare state was rooted in many causes. To fully understand these cause we have to start out not at the 1941 beginnings of the large scale welfare state but to 1598.

One of the main motivating factors behind this desire towards a welfare state was the universal hatred of the so called "Poor laws." These were a series of laws governing aid (feeding, education, and health) to the poorest of society. The first passed in 1598 and not until 1948 did the last one of them get eliminated. The basic idea behind these laws was that for someone who was able bodied to be eligible for help he would have to be declared a pauper and would have to work in a workhouse where he would receive the most elementary and basic rations for his labors. The old and the sick may receive state help without having to work, but even they had to live in a poor house to be able to receive rations. The rights of paupers were substantially less then a "normal" citizens . They couldn't vote, they were not to be hired unless all other sources of labor were exhausted (Thus preventing them from lifting themselves out of absolute poverty and rejoining society), and were not allowed to move freely (like feudal serfs, some towns even branded their paupers). In addition the psychological and emotional stigma of being demoted to the lowest caste (pauper) in an England where class counted for everything must have been terrible. And the workhouses where they were forced to stay and work usually had quite appalling living conditions: in 1845, there...

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...for the average man.

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Poverty and Inequality in Britain 1942-1990

Jean Claude Redonnet, Timothy Whitton

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