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- Title
Seebohm Rowntree and the postwar poverty puzzle.
- Authors
Hatton, Timothy J.; Bailey, Roy E.
- Abstract
This article examines the criticisms of a 1950 survey on poverty in York, England. In 1951, the results of the third social survey of York under the title "Poverty and the Welfare State," was published. The inquiry followed the same basic design as the influential surveys of York in 1899 and 1936 and from the results the author drew two important conclusions. Using the poverty line similar to that established in 1936, it was found that 4.6 % of the working class households were in poverty, compared with 31.1% percent in 1936. A large share of this improvement was attributed to the effects of the welfare state. It was calculated that had the welfare measures been the same in 1950 as they were in 1936, 24.7 percent of the working class households would have been in poverty, compared with 31.1% in 1936, 24.7% of working class poverty between 1936 and 1950. These dramatic findings received intense press coverage in the autumn of 1951, with headlines such as "Poverty is always down and out."
- Subjects
YORK (England); ENGLAND; CRITICISM; SURVEYS; POVERTY; INQUIRY (Theory of knowledge); WORKING class; HOUSEHOLDS
- Publication
Economic History Review, 2000, Vol 53, Issue 3, p517
- ISSN
0013-0117
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/1468-0289.00169