5 Capitalising the poor
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Mark Henrickson
Abstract
During the 16th to 18th centuries, responses to the poor included the highly centralised system established by the English Poor Laws administered by local parishes; the fragmented system of the Dutch Republic that was highly locally responsive; and the highly centralised system of post-revolutionary France that was impractical to administer in the provinces. Roman Catholic regions retained parochial systems of social care. As the social imaginary shifted from a vertical to a more horizontal one, post-Enlightenment liberal humanist states encouraged the development of private capital, colonisation, global exploitation, slavery, and Christian missionisation throughout South and East Asia, the Pacific, and the so-called New World through the British and Dutch East India companies. Liberal humanist states and their colonial (and post-colonial) offspring retained the Constantinian measures that promote social stability and harmony, social control, state care, and protection of the powerless (such as children and the very old). However, civic theologies also retained the reformed churches’ understanding that anyone who does not work should not eat, and that every person must conform to state-prescribed values (which are largely the values of the reformed churches) in order to receive assistance.
Abstract
During the 16th to 18th centuries, responses to the poor included the highly centralised system established by the English Poor Laws administered by local parishes; the fragmented system of the Dutch Republic that was highly locally responsive; and the highly centralised system of post-revolutionary France that was impractical to administer in the provinces. Roman Catholic regions retained parochial systems of social care. As the social imaginary shifted from a vertical to a more horizontal one, post-Enlightenment liberal humanist states encouraged the development of private capital, colonisation, global exploitation, slavery, and Christian missionisation throughout South and East Asia, the Pacific, and the so-called New World through the British and Dutch East India companies. Liberal humanist states and their colonial (and post-colonial) offspring retained the Constantinian measures that promote social stability and harmony, social control, state care, and protection of the powerless (such as children and the very old). However, civic theologies also retained the reformed churches’ understanding that anyone who does not work should not eat, and that every person must conform to state-prescribed values (which are largely the values of the reformed churches) in order to receive assistance.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- A royal responsibility 18
- Inventing the poor 42
- Reforming the poor 67
- Capitalising the poor 94
- Industrialising the poor 121
- Liberalising the poor 154
- Professionalising work with the poor 180
- A global perspective 198
- Creating a global future 214
- References 224
- Index 246
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- A royal responsibility 18
- Inventing the poor 42
- Reforming the poor 67
- Capitalising the poor 94
- Industrialising the poor 121
- Liberalising the poor 154
- Professionalising work with the poor 180
- A global perspective 198
- Creating a global future 214
- References 224
- Index 246
