British Poor Law Reform in the Industrial Revolution

British Poor Law Reform in the Industrial Revolution One of the most infamous British laws of the modern age was the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. It was designed to deal with the rising costs of poor relief, and reform a system from the Elizabethan era unable to cope with the urbanization and industrialization of the Industrial Revolution (more on coal, iron, steam) by sending all able-bodied people in need of poor relief into workhouses where conditions were deliberately harsh. The State of Poverty Relief Before the Nineteenth Century The treatment of the poor in Britain before the major nineteenth-century laws depended on a large element of charity. The middle class paid a Parish poor rate and often saw the increasing poverty of the era merely as a financial worry. They often wanted the cheapest, or most cost-effective, way of treating the poor. There was little engagement with the causes of poverty, which ranged from illness, poor education, disease, disability, underemployment, and poor transport preventing movement to regions with more jobs, to economic changes which removed domestic industry and agricultural changes which left many without jobs. Poor harvests caused grain prices to rise, and high housing prices led to greater debt. Instead, Britain largely viewed the poor as one of two types. The ‘deserving’ poor, those who were old, handicapped, infirm or too young to work, were considered blameless as they obviously couldn’t work, and their numbers stayed more or less even across the eighteenth century. On the other hand, the able-bodied who were without work were considered ‘undeserving’ poor, thought of as lazy drunkards who could have got a job if they needed one. People simply didn’t realize at this point how the changing economy could affect workers. Poverty was also feared. Some worried about deprivation, those in charge worried about the increase in expenditure needed to deal with them, as well as a widely perceived threat of revolution and anarchy. Legal Developments Before the Nineteenth Century The great Elizabethan Poor Law Act was passed at the start of the seventeenth century. This was designed to fit the needs of the static, rural English society of the time, not that of the industrializing centuries afterward. A poor rate was levied to pay for the poor, and the parish was the unit of administration. Unpaid, local Justices of the Peace administered the relief, which was supplemented by local charity. The act was motivated by the need to secure public order. Outdoor relief – giving money or supplies to people on the street – was coupled with indoor relief, where people had to enter a ‘Workhouse’ or similar ‘correctional’ facility, where everything they did was tightly controlled. The 1662 Act of Settlement acted to cover up a loophole in the system, under which parishes were shipping sick and destitute people into other areas. Now you could only receive relief in your area of birth, marriage or long-term living. A certificate was produced, and the poor had to present this if they moved, to say where they came from, impinging on freedom of labor movement. A 1722 act made it easier to set up workhouses into which to funnel your poor, and provided an early ‘test’ to see if people should be forced in. Sixty years later more laws made it cheaper to create a workhouse, allowing parishes to team up to create one. Although the workhouses were meant for the able-bodied, at this point it was mainly the infirm that were sent to them. However, the Act of 1796 removed the 1722 workhouse act when it became clear a period of mass unemployment would fill the workhouses. The Old Poor Law The result was the absence of a real system. As everything was based on the parish, there was a huge amount of regional diversity. Some areas used mainly outdoor relief, some provided work for the poor, others used workhouses. Substantial power over the poor was given to local people, who ranged from honest and interested to dishonest and bigoted. The whole poor law system was unaccountable and unprofessional. Forms of relief could include each rate payer agreeing to support a certain number of workers – depending on their poor rate assessment - or just paying wages. The ‘rounds’ system saw laborers sent round the parish until they found work. An allowance system, where food or money was given out to people on a sliding scale according to family size, was used in some areas, but this was believed to encourage idleness and poor fiscal policy among the (potentially) poor. The Speenhamland System was created in 1795 in Berkshire. A stop-gap system to stave off mass destitution, it was created by the magistrates of Speen and quickly adopted around England. Their motivation was a set of crises which occurred in the 1790s: rising population, enclosure, wartime prices, bad harvests, and fear of a British French Revolution. The results of these systems were that farmers kept wages down as the parish would make up the shortfall, effectively giving employers relief as well as the poor. While many were saved from starvation, others were degraded by doing their work but still needing poor relief to make their earnings economically viable. The Push to Reform Poverty was far from a new problem when steps were taken to reform the poor law in the nineteenth century, but the industrial revolution had changed the way poverty was viewed, and the impact it had. The rapid growth of dense urban areas with their problems of public health, housing, crime, and poverty was clearly not suited to the old system. One pressure to reform the poor relief system came from the rising cost of the poor rate which rapidly increased. Poor-rate payers began to see poor relief as a financial problem, not fully understanding the effects of war, and poor relief grew to 2% of the Gross National Income. This difficulty was not spread evenly over England, and the depressed south, near London, was hit hardest. In addition, influential people were beginning to see the poor law as out of date, wasteful, and a threat to both the economy and the free movement of labor, as well as encouraging large families, idleness, and drinking. The Swing Riots of 1830 further encouraged demands for new, harsher, measures on the poor. The Poor Law Report of 1834 Parliamentary commissions in 1817 and 1824 had criticized the old system  but offered no alternatives. In 1834 this changed with the creation of the Royal Commission of Edwin Chadwick and Nassau Senior, men who wanted to reform the poor law on a utilitarian basis. Critical of amateur organization and desirous for greater uniformity, they aimed for the ‘greatest happiness for the greatest number.’ The resulting Poor Law Report of 1834 had is widely regarded as a classic text in social history. The commission sent out questionnaires to over 15,000 parishes and only heard back from around 10%. Then they send assistant commissioners to roughly a third of all poor law authorities. They were not seeking to end the causes of poverty – it was considered inevitable, and necessary for cheap labor – but to change how the poor was treated. The result was an attack on the old poor law, saying it was costly, badly run, out of date, too regionalized and encouraged indolence and vice. The suggested alternative was the strict implementation of Bentham’s pain-pleasure principle: the destitute would have to balance the pain of the workhouse against getting a job. Relief would be given for the able-bodied only in the workhouse, and abolished outside it, while the state of the workhouse should be lower than that of the poorest, but still employed, laborer. This was ‘less eligibility’. The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act A direct response to the 1834 report, the PLAA created a new central body to oversee poor law, with Chadwick as secretary. They sent out assistant commissioners to oversee the creation of workhouses and the implementation of the act. Parishes were grouped into unions for better administration – 13,427 parishes into 573 unions – and each had a board of guardians elected by ratepayers. Less eligibility was accepted as a key idea, but outdoor relief for the able-bodied wasn’t abolished after political opposition. New workhouses were built for them, at the expense of the parishes, and a paid matron and master would be in charge of the difficult balance of keeping workhouse life lower than paid labor, but still humane. As the able-bodied could often get outdoor relief, the workhouses filled with the sick and old. It took until 1868 for the entire country to be unionized, but the boards worked hard to provide efficient and occasionally humane services, despite sometimes difficult agglomerations of parishes. Salaried officials replaced volunteers, providing a major development in local government services and the collection of other information for policy changes (e.g. Chadwick’s use of the poor law health officers to reform public health legislation). Education of poor children was begun inside. There was opposition, such as the politician who referred to it as the â€Å"starvation and infanticide act†, and several locations saw violence. However, opposition gradually declined as the economy improved, and after the system became more flexible when Chadwick was removed from power in 1841. Workhouses tended to swing from nearly empty to full depending on the bouts of periodic unemployment, and the conditions depended on the generosity of the staff working there. The events in Andover, which caused a scandal for the poor treatment, were unusual rather than typical, but a select committee was created in 1846 which created a new Poor Law Board with a president who sat in parliament. Criticism of the Act The evidence of the commissioners has been called into question. The poor rate was not necessarily higher in areas making large-scale use of the Speenhamland system and their judgments on what caused poverty were wrong. The idea that high birth rates were connected to allowance systems is now also largely rejected. Poor rate expenditure was already falling by 1818, and the Speenhamland system was able to mostly disappear by 1834, but this was ignored. The nature of unemployment in industrial areas, created by the cyclical employment cycle, was also misidentified. There was criticism at the time, from campaigners who highlighted the inhumanity of the workhouses, to Justices of the Peace upset they had lost power, to radicals concerned with civil liberties. But the act was the first national, monitored central government program for poor relief. Outcome The basic demands of the act weren’t being properly implemented by the 1840s, and in the 1860s the unemployment caused by the American Civil War and the collapse of cotton supplies led to outdoor relief returning. People began to look at the causes of poverty, rather than simply reacting to ideas of unemployment and allowance systems. Ultimately, while the costs of poor relief initially fell, much of this was due to the return of peace in Europe, and the rate rose again as the population rose.

Montague-Capulet Feud in Romeo and Juliet

Montague-Capulet Feud in Romeo and Juliet In Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, two noble families are at war with each other, a state of affairs which ultimately dooms the young lovers. Romeo is of House Montague and Juliet is a Capulet. We never learn the origin of the feud between the two families, but it pervades the play from the very first scene when servants from each house get into a fight. All of the major events in Romeo and Juliet are driven by the Montague-Capulet dispute. But after the tragic death of their children at the end of the play, both families agree to bury their grievances and acknowledge their losses. Via their tragic deaths, Romeo and Juliet resolve the long-standing conflict between their respective families, but unfortunately, do not live to enjoy the peace. But who’s who in the Montague-Capulet feud? The following list divides the play’s characters by family: House of Montague The House of Montague includes these key players: Montague.  Father to Romeo and married to Lady Montague, he’s concerned about his son at the start of the play and asks Benvolio to help him figure out what’s bothering Romeo.Lady Montague.  Romeo’s mother is less of a presence in the play than Juliet’s mother, but in the few scenes we see her, she appears to love her son deeply. When Romeo is banished, she dies of grief.Romeo. The son, and heir of the Montague house, Romeo is 16 years old and falls in and out of â€Å"love† easily, until meeting Juliet. He kills Tybalt after Tybalt kills Romeo’s friend Mercutio.Benvolio. He is  Montague’s nephew and Romeo’s cousin. Benvolio tries to be a good influence on Romeo, persuading him to forget about the erstwhile Rosaline. He mainly acts as a peacemaker and friend to Romeo.Balthasar.  Romeo’s serving man unintentionally tells Romeo of Juliet’s â€Å"death† (In fact, she’s taken poison to appear dead ). House of Capulet Lord Capulet. Juliet’s father is the family patriarch and tries to control his daughter by arranging a marriage to Paris. When she refuses, he calls her terrible names and threatens to throw her out: Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch!I tell thee what: get thee to church o Thursday,Or never after look me in the faceAnd you be mine, Ill give you to my friend;And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets! Lady Capulet. Juliet’s mother, while more understanding of her daughter is almost as angered by Juliet’s refusal to marry Paris as Lord Capulet is. She dismisses Juliet outright: Talk not to me, for Ill not speak a word; do as thou wilt, for I am done with thee.Juliet Capulet. At age 13, Juliet is about to be married to Paris and is deeply unhappy about it. But everything changes when she meets Romeo, despite his being from the rival Montague family. The two fall in love and are secretly married, but end up killing themselves when each believes the other to be dead.Juliet’s Nurse. She is more of a mother figure to Juliet than Lady Capulet and knows the young woman better than anyone else in her family. The Nurse’s sense of humor lends some much-needed levity to the play. She’s the only one who helps Juliet in her quest to be with Romeo, even though she doesn’t fully understand the intensity of Juliet’s feelings.Tybalt. Lady Capuletâ₠¬â„¢s nephew and Juliet’s cousin is the main antagonist of Romeo and Juliet, owing to his deep hatred of the Montagues. Short-tempered and vindictive, Tybalt is quick to draw his sword in anger. His killing is a pivotal moment in the play.

What leadership styles dominate the Chinese market Essay

What leadership styles dominate the Chinese market - Essay Example This paper aims to determine which leadership style is the most suitable for companies in China as it is the leadership style of a manager coupled with organizational culture that determines the employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Leadership styles are employed by managers to suit the needs of the people and the organization that is being led. It is almost always a mix of the six leadership styles: visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pace-setting and commanding, that today’s leaders practice in successfully leading their teams. These styles are adopted by the leader either individually or as a mix of more than one style, within the context of the people and organizational needs at that moment. The success with which leaders adopt the different styles, to what extent each style has its influence on employee performance and job satisfaction and how the organizational culture affects the job satisfaction and organizational commitment by the employee will be explored. Further, it will also be understood as to the shelf life of each style or if the adopted style is applicable to all situations and sectors in Chinese organizations. Finally, qualitative analysis of available literature in published journals, news articles and websites can help understand the most suitable leadership style for my business in the Chinese region that can have the maximum impact on employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. ... nies in China as it is the leadership style of a manager coupled with organizational culture that determines the employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Lok and Crawford, 2004). Leadership styles are employed by managers to suit the needs of the people and the organization that is being led. It is almost always a mix of the six leadership styles: visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pace-setting and commanding, that today’s leaders practice in successfully leading their teams. These styles are adopted by the leader either individually or as a mix of more than one style, within the context of the people and organizational needs at that moment (Murray, 2012). The success with which leaders adopt the different styles, to what extent each style has its influence on employee performance and job satisfaction and how the organizational culture affects the job satisfaction and organizational commitment by the employee will be explored. Further, it will also b e understood as to the shelf life of each style or if the adopted style is applicable to all situations and sectors in Chinese organizations. Also, it will help to understand how the leaders can effectively determine which leadership style to use under certain circumstances, and how they communicate through their style of leadership. Finally, qualitative analysis of available literature in published journals, news articles and websites can help understand the most suitable leadership style for my business in the Chinese region that can have the maximum impact on employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. 2. Literature Review a. Introduction Leadership style adopted by managers in Chinese firms has an impact on job satisfaction and commitment and leadership style is influenced by

How does the western model of Internet Banking apply to Russia Literature review

How does the western model of Internet Banking apply to Russia - Literature review Example Recently many banks have adopted online banking. With its boom in the United States and the United Kingdom, online baking has subsequently spread to other areas, Russia included. Victor (2008, p. 724) asserts that although this is the era of internet boom in many regions of the world and that more developed countries are increasingly using the internet for various ways, the reality is that most of the developing countries are yet to fully adopt the internet and embrace it as a way of doing business. The online banking, commonly referred to as the internet banking is one of the newest forms of banking adopted by banks in the developed countries. According to Arnaboldi (2009, p. 1), â€Å"a few pioneering banks started to offer products via the internet in the mid-nineties.† This shows long the service has been on going in the European-banking sector. However, Russia and other Eastern Europe countries are yet to realize the dream of conducting most of their banking operations wi th convenience of their mobile phones and computers. Hopes of these people transforming their banking services and fully going digital are still alive, if the current changes and improvements in the banking sector are anything to go by. More and more, banks in the Russian region have embraced the need to go online, with many customers already subscribing to internet banking. While the previous technologies used in the country were unreliably painful to the customers, current innovative improvements in the sector provide hopes for a full transformation of the entire sector. However, not all western banking models are applicable in the Russian situation. A few modifications are necessary to make it compatible with the Russian customer base. This is because of the differences in customer base between the developed and the developing countries (Jaruwachirathanakul & Fink 2005 p. 302). The slow nature of the internet banking penetration rate of the people constrains the hopes of growing and expanding this sector to robust volumes such as in the United States and on the United Kingdom. Hopes for growing the sector are still high, as 10-12 per cent of the total bankable population are ready and more than willing. This percentage loves the convenience of the internet, as well as its efficiency. The biggest booster of this trend is the adoption of the emoney and the money kiosks industry. Most of the banks offering internet banking in Russia offer payment services. This is however, a misconception about the whole issue about internet banking, a notion held by most of these banks’ customers. Initially, banks offer banks offer iBanking services to their customers, with only the opportunity to make their payments. The biggest advantage for this service is its ability to reduce the transaction costs for the customers. However, banks miss out from making sales, which were potentially available for the banks to exploit. Mols (2000, p. 12) stresses on the important rol e-played by the internet to business organizations in marketing their products and services. according to Mols, (2000, p. 14), the increase in online marketing offers business organizations unlimited opportunities to advertise and sell their products and services. As such, many organizations have introduced online sales that allow customers to search and pay for the ownership of goods. Benefits accrued from online banking cannot be underestimated. In most cases, young men aged between 25

Source G is an extract from a novel about evacuees Essay Example for Free

Source G is an extract from a novel about evacuees Essay Source G is an extract from a novel about evacuees. It is from Carries War, a novel for children written by Nina Bowden in 1973. Source G tells the story of two children entering the home of a host family. The story is from the childrens perspective. From analysing this source, there are certain aspects that make it reliable. Not a speck of dust anywhere. The beginning line immediately gives us the impression of a rich, tidy and prosperous house in the country belonging to an upper middle-class family. I think that Source G give us the common thought in that time of people living in the countryside being wealthy. Certain aspects of this quote is reliable because it was also shown this way in the film , the people that lived in the country had a better, much cleaner lifestyle. Better change into your slippers before I take you to your bedroom also indicates the general thinking in that time; country people thought that children coming from industrialised city areas could not even afford basic necessities, had no education. This was one negative, snobbish attitude that a majority of people in the country lead. From my own knowledge, many children lived in poverty, this certain aspect of the source does reflect reality in WW2, many children lived in over-crowded slums. Furthermore, when Miss Evans says your bedroom portrays that she probably lives in a wealthy big manor that has many individual rooms. Houses in the countryside were a lot more spacious, so this could be reliable to the historian to assess the differences between the lifestyles people in the city and country led. However, the evacuees giggle She thinks were poor children this suggests to the historian that these children may not be poor as Miss Evans assumed, they might also have come from an upper middle-class family, it was very stereotypical view at this time of WW2 where the people in the country used to think that town people were poor. This shows a whole new perspective rather than the general thoughts which give the historian a slightly balanced view now. From my own knowledge, some evacuees enjoyed their time, children could have there own private clean and comfortable, they had more baths, education, these are a positive outcomes out of evacuation. This source is useful as it portrays most evacuees faced the same situation of adapting into a new lifestyle.

The Business Life Of Ancient Athens :: essays research papers

The Business Life of Ancient Athens   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Business Life of Ancient Athens is an informative book about different aspects of Ancient businesses and Ancient ways of dealing with money. This book first starts out by explaining the agricultural aspects of Ancient Athens. Agriculture was not well for Athens, so they had to trade a lot. It is recorded as early as the 6th century BC that grain was a very big part of an average Athenian's diet. Therefore; much grain trade was necessary because Greece land was very bad for agricultural purposes. Athens had grown industrially and commercially within time, and this was also a problem: overpopulation. Also, many Spartan tribes over and over attacked Greece and destroyed any crops that might grow in the soil. Peasants were also sent to work at farms but they lost care in their farms and found it better to live in the city, living off small amounts of money that came from doing state services. During this time, many people learned ways of math because they needed to know how much grain is needed per person. Although these calculations are not totally accurate, they are a start in banking and maybe even other ways of mathematics. The Peloponnesian War also occurred- leaving Greece(Attica) with nothing. Attica was forced by famine to go under Peloponnesian rule. By now, trade had come in an uproar. Many people had found it easy to trade by sea. So many merchants with not enough money would borrow money from rich people and then buy cargo space on a ship. In most cases the merchant went on the ship to get the goods to sell. Then on returning, the merchant would sell the goods, and then pay off the lender, with a 22.5 percent interest rate. In many cases, problems occurred, sometimes a merchant returned late, could not pay all of the money back, or something or other. Therefore the idea of a collateral was invented. Also, courts were established to rule these sorts of fights amongst the people. These courts weren't used in the winter because of stormy weather and so not to interrupt commercial business. Courts were required to solve a case within 30 days, this procedure only applies to cases where and actual legal documented agreement was made between the lender and the merchant. Many merchants did not return, therefore the collateral was the lender's to keep. But often the merchant didn't have anything good to start with so many lenders lost money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Next, the book talked about Banking and Bankers. Early banking dates back all the way to Sumer and Akkad where many specialized in weighing things The Business Life Of Ancient Athens :: essays research papers The Business Life of Ancient Athens   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Business Life of Ancient Athens is an informative book about different aspects of Ancient businesses and Ancient ways of dealing with money. This book first starts out by explaining the agricultural aspects of Ancient Athens. Agriculture was not well for Athens, so they had to trade a lot. It is recorded as early as the 6th century BC that grain was a very big part of an average Athenian's diet. Therefore; much grain trade was necessary because Greece land was very bad for agricultural purposes. Athens had grown industrially and commercially within time, and this was also a problem: overpopulation. Also, many Spartan tribes over and over attacked Greece and destroyed any crops that might grow in the soil. Peasants were also sent to work at farms but they lost care in their farms and found it better to live in the city, living off small amounts of money that came from doing state services. During this time, many people learned ways of math because they needed to know how much grain is needed per person. Although these calculations are not totally accurate, they are a start in banking and maybe even other ways of mathematics. The Peloponnesian War also occurred- leaving Greece(Attica) with nothing. Attica was forced by famine to go under Peloponnesian rule. By now, trade had come in an uproar. Many people had found it easy to trade by sea. So many merchants with not enough money would borrow money from rich people and then buy cargo space on a ship. In most cases the merchant went on the ship to get the goods to sell. Then on returning, the merchant would sell the goods, and then pay off the lender, with a 22.5 percent interest rate. In many cases, problems occurred, sometimes a merchant returned late, could not pay all of the money back, or something or other. Therefore the idea of a collateral was invented. Also, courts were established to rule these sorts of fights amongst the people. These courts weren't used in the winter because of stormy weather and so not to interrupt commercial business. Courts were required to solve a case within 30 days, this procedure only applies to cases where and actual legal documented agreement was made between the lender and the merchant. Many merchants did not return, therefore the collateral was the lender's to keep. But often the merchant didn't have anything good to start with so many lenders lost money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Next, the book talked about Banking and Bankers. Early banking dates back all the way to Sumer and Akkad where many specialized in weighing things

The summer holiday

After each term in school pupils have holidays. It Is cool to have holidays. You can do whatever you like and you don't have to get up early. Most of all I like summer holidays because they are the longest ones. Last summer was very interesting for me. I don't go to the seaside or somewhere abroad but I spent a good time with my family and my friends. In June I with my friends watched Euro 201 2 and we didn't miss any match. It was a great event for Ukraine. And I think at that moment everybody believed In the victory.In July I went to my grandmother who lives In the village. I had a very good time there, because I had an active rest. I got up early In the morning and worked In the vegetable garden. I helped my granny to water the vegetables and to take care of the plants. The days In the country passed very quickly. I had a lot of things to do every day. Sometimes I went to the forest. It Is not far from the village. There I picked up berries and mushrooms. In the evening I watched TV and read books.August was not very special but it stuck in my memory because of the trip to the mountains with my father. It was very interesting and exciting. We made our trip on the Independence day. We started early in the morning, took some food and equipments. And in the afternoon we were on the tip of Hoverer. We made friends with a lot of people and made many photos. It was wonderful day. We had a very good time. Now my holidays are over and I am looking forward to the next ones. I suppose they will be much better.