The Winding Road to the Welfare State: Economic Insecurity and Social Welfare Policy in Britain

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George R. Boyer

The Winding Road to the Welfare State

Economic Insecurity and Social Welfare Policy in Britain

George R. Boyer

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English

Princeton University Press
15 June 2021

Labour economics; Welfare economics; Economic systems & structures; Economic history; Public finance

Series: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World

How did Britain transform itself from a nation of workhouses to one that became a model for the modern welfare state? The Winding Road to the Welfare State investigates the evolution of living standards and welfare policies in Britain from the 1830s to 1950 and provides insights into how British working-class households coped with economic insecurity. George Boyer examines the retrenchment in Victorian poor relief, the Liberal Welfare Reforms, and the beginnings of the postwar welfare state, and he describes how workers altered spending and saving methods based on changing government policies.

From the cutting back of the Poor Law after 1834 to Parliament's abrupt about-face in 1906 with the adoption of the Liberal Welfare Reforms, Boyer offers new explanations for oscillations in Britain's social policies and how these shaped worker well-being. The Poor Law's increasing stinginess led skilled manual workers to adopt self-help strategies, but this was not a feasible option for low-skilled workers, many of whom continued to rely on the Poor Law into old age. In contrast, the Liberal Welfare Reforms were a major watershed, marking the end of seven decades of declining support for the needy. Concluding with the Beveridge Report and Labour's social policies in the late 1940s, Boyer shows how the Liberal Welfare Reforms laid the foundations for a national social safety net.

A sweeping look at economic pressures after the Industrial Revolution, The Winding Road to the Welfare State illustrates how British welfare policy waxed and waned over the course of a century.

By: George R. Boyer
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691217116
ISBN 10: 0691217114
Series: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 15 June 2021
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

George R. Boyer is professor of economics and international and comparative labor at Cornell University. He is the author of An Economic History of the English Poor Law, 17501850.

Reviews for The Winding Road to the Welfare State: Economic Insecurity and Social Welfare Policy in Britain

One of the book's great strengths is the way in which is seeks to integrate the history of social policy with the history of living standards more generally, and the book is enhanced by the author's efforts to place both living standards and social protection in an international context. - Bernard Harris-- Journal of Economics An important, and useful, addition to the literature on the history of social welfare in modern Britain.---John Stewart, Journal of Social Policy