The Solidarities of Strangers is a study of English policies toward the poor from the seventeenth century to the present that combines individual stories with official actions. Lynn Lees shows how clients as well as officials negotiated welfare settlements. Cultural definitions of entitlement, rather than available resources, determined amounts and beneficiaries. Indeed, industrialization and growing wealth went along with restricted payments to the needy, while universal allowances and insurance systems expanded as the economy faltered and world wars crippled budgets and drained resources. Although the English poor laws were a 'residualist' system, aiding the destitute when neither family nor charities covered needs, they went through cycles of generosity and meanness that affected men and women unequally. The long-term history of welfare in England and Wales has not been a story of continued progress and improvement but one determined by continually changing attitudes toward poverty.

A study of English policies toward the poor from the 1600s to the present, showing how clients and officials negotiated welfare settlements.
Reviews
'Lynn Hollen Lee's book puts flesh on the dry bones of poor law administration by citing human experiences ... derived from a largely untapped wealth of local records, autobiographies and other personal testimony ... this is a particularly timely book ... [and] is of great value in making sense of the wide range of poor law research in recent years and in focusing on the human experience of public relief.' The Times Literary Supplement



Book Information
ISBN 9780521572613
Author Lynn Hollen Lees
Format Hardback
Page Count 392
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 725g
Dimensions(mm) 236mm * 164mm * 27mm