Insights from the historical lived experience of a fragmented economy of welfare in Britain: poverty, precarity and the Peck family 1928-1950
Insights from the historical lived experience of a fragmented economy of welfare in Britain: poverty, precarity and the Peck family 1928-1950
We draw upon a ‘small history’ of one family to throw light on lived experience of welfare in the past, and consider how it may provide some glimpses into what Britain’s current economy of welfare trajectory could mean, where the state welfare safety net has holes and an ad hoc charitable safety net is being constructed beneath them. Using archived case notes from the Charity Organisation Society across the interwar period to the comprehensive welfare state, we discuss one family’s negotiation of poverty and the fragmented economy of welfare involving nascent state provision and a safety net of myriad charitable bodies, and the need to be judged as respectable and worthy. While lived experience of inequalities of assessment criteria, provision and distribution provide some indication for the potential trajectory of contemporary welfare in Britain, towards fragmented localised settlements, however, the small history also reveals a muted story of alternatives and reliability.
poverty, Charity Organisation Society, small history, economy of welfare, lived experience, welfare safety net
Edwards, Rosalind
e43912c0-f149-4457-81a9-9c4e00a4bb42
Gillies, Val
ca51ea17-1bdf-457a-b51d-ab0c39aaa26e
Edwards, Rosalind
e43912c0-f149-4457-81a9-9c4e00a4bb42
Gillies, Val
ca51ea17-1bdf-457a-b51d-ab0c39aaa26e
Edwards, Rosalind and Gillies, Val
(2020)
Insights from the historical lived experience of a fragmented economy of welfare in Britain: poverty, precarity and the Peck family 1928-1950.
Genealogy.
(doi:10.3390/genealogy4010020).
Abstract
We draw upon a ‘small history’ of one family to throw light on lived experience of welfare in the past, and consider how it may provide some glimpses into what Britain’s current economy of welfare trajectory could mean, where the state welfare safety net has holes and an ad hoc charitable safety net is being constructed beneath them. Using archived case notes from the Charity Organisation Society across the interwar period to the comprehensive welfare state, we discuss one family’s negotiation of poverty and the fragmented economy of welfare involving nascent state provision and a safety net of myriad charitable bodies, and the need to be judged as respectable and worthy. While lived experience of inequalities of assessment criteria, provision and distribution provide some indication for the potential trajectory of contemporary welfare in Britain, towards fragmented localised settlements, however, the small history also reveals a muted story of alternatives and reliability.
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2020 02 12 genealogy-663563 accepted
- Accepted Manuscript
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genealogy-04-00020
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Accepted/In Press date: 12 February 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 19 February 2020
Keywords:
poverty, Charity Organisation Society, small history, economy of welfare, lived experience, welfare safety net
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Local EPrints ID: 438289
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/438289
PURE UUID: d1c2a4f9-5885-4654-a5d0-72e03c75df77
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Date deposited: 04 Mar 2020 17:33
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:22
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Author:
Val Gillies
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