The English poor / Thomas Mackay.
In 1889, British wine merchant Thomas Mackay published The English Poor, which espoused the ideas of Darwin and applied them to British social and economic history. An acolyte of social Darwinist Herbert Spencer, Mackay writes that human history has been a struggle between individualism and socialis...
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| Online Access: |
Full Text (via Cambridge) |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge :
Cambridge University Press,
2009.
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| Series: | Cambridge library collection. History.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | In 1889, British wine merchant Thomas Mackay published The English Poor, which espoused the ideas of Darwin and applied them to British social and economic history. An acolyte of social Darwinist Herbert Spencer, Mackay writes that human history has been a struggle between individualism and socialism, and argues that only through individual competition (not state social support) will poverty be eradicated. The opening chapters discuss the human instinct for property accumulation, primitive forms of society, elite control of workers during the plague years, and the growth of the proletariat. Later chapters discuss social legislation, the evolution of England's poor laws, and the Industrial Revolution. Finally, Mackay debates the scholarship of socialist Ernest Belfort Bax, bemoans the misguided ideas of Christian charity, and argues that the lives of 'lower types' of people have been prolonged by the poor laws. This is a fascinating document of late-Victorian economic thought. |
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| Item Description: | Originally published in 1889. |
| Physical Description: | 1 electronic book (xi, 299 pages). |
| ISBN: | 9780511693717 0511693710 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/CBO9780511693717 |
| Language: | English. |
| Source of Description, Etc. Note: | Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on October 21, 2019). |
| Type of Computer File or Data Note: | Text (Electronic book). |