Session Information
17 SES 01, Parallel Paper Session
Parallel Paper Session
Contribution
In 1871, the Swedish Parliament passed a new and restrictive statute. Poor relief was possible for children less than fifteen years of age and for people who could not work because of their age, ill-health, disability or deformity.[1] All other citizens were viewed as capable of making their own living. Begging became prohibited and could end up in jail. The school was maid compulsory. A more subtle feature of the industrialisation period, 1870 to 1910, was a gradual shift in views of parenthood, in the process of poor relief. This shift related to affirming maternal responsibilities, increasing the responsibilities of mothers and reducing the responsibilities of fathers. What emerges is a form of gendered and state-controlled working line. The conclusion was often reached that children who lacked the necessities of life did it since the mothers did not go out to work.[2] An abstract sense of being capable of earning a living was the fundamental foundation governing state decisions of poor relief. The poor ordinance led to several trials in the court of law for concepts such as ‘compulsory poor relief’, an ‘able-bodied’ person and ‘schooling” but it remained unchanged until 1918. By the 1870s, school councils and teachers had become more involved in addressing national welfare goals. School councils and teachers became more involved in addressing national welfare goals. The private lives of the poor were opened up to public scrutiny and value judgements. Control was exerted through house calls which resulted in reports, among other things, on domestic circumstances, family life, dress and behaviour. In particular this paper illustrates how the official public spirit affects childhood and why understandings of this relationship need to be broadened as well as deepened. These phenomenon are clarified not only by reference to nineteenth century sources but also to national and international research, and theoretical frameworks concerning biographies, generations and gender relations associated with, among others, Hannah Arendt and Pierre Bourdieu.
The context surrounding the child can be regarded as an urgent societal and future issue (Arendt, 1958/1998; Bourdieu, 1990; Bourdieu, 1992) and therefore, always current. Recent scholarship has focused on the international, national and local dimensions of poor law legislation during the industrialization that occurred at the end of the nineteenth century. English poor laws and the situation of growing up poor have been examined as well asa welfare perspective of the US poor law (Brundage, 2002; Davin, 1996; Orloff, 1993).Elsewhere, feminist perspectives on motherhood, gender and poverty in the same era have been identified (Berry, 1993; Twomey, 1999; Fuchs, 2005). Child poverty has increased during the twenty-first century and the consequences for today’s poor children is again an urgent societal and educational concern (Daly, 2002; Hopper et al., 2005; Sutton, 2007; O´Brien and Salonen, 2011).
[1] Sweden.Swedish authors’ anthology, nr 33, 1871. Royal proclamation concerning poor relief in the nation.
[2] This conclusion is based on a perusal of poor relief cases in the New Legal Archives, Sweden, 1873-1900.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Arendt, H (1958/1998), The Human Condition: With an introduction by Margaret Canovan. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. Berry, M F (1993), The Politics of Parenthood: Child care, Women’s rights and the Myth of the Good Mother., New York, Penguin Books. Bourdieu, P (1990), Reproduction in education, society and culture, London, Sage. Bourdieu, P (1992), The Logic of Practice. Cambridge, Polity Press. Brundage, A (2002), The English poor laws, 1700–1930, Basingstoke, New York, Palgrave. Daly, M and Leonard, M (2002), Against all odds. Family life on a low income in Ireland. Dublin: Combat Poverty Agency. Davin, A (1996), Growing up poor: home, school and street in London 1870 – 1914. London, Rivers Oram Press. Fuchs, R G (2005), Gender and poverty in nineteenth-century Europe, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Eisenhardt, K M and Graebner, Melissa E (2007), “Theory building from cases: opportunities and challenges.” Academy of Management Journal, 50, 25-32. Holmlund, K (2012), Poverty is not a human characteristic: A retrospective study of comprehending and educating impoverished children. US-China Education Review, 2(1), 130-137. Education Review, Vol.1, No 7, December 2011. Hooper, C-A, Gorin, S Cabral, C and Dyson, C (2005), Living with hardship: the diverse experiences of families in poverty in England, London, The Frank Buttle Trust. O´Brien, M and Salonen, T (2011), Child poverty and child rights meet active citizenship: A New Zealand and Sweden case study. Childhood, Vol. 18, Issue 2, 211-226. Orloff, A (1993), Gender and the social rights of citizenship: The comparative analysis of gender relations and welfare states, American Sociological Review 58, 303–28. Sutton, L (2007), ‘They'd only call you a scally if you are poor’: the impact of socio-economic status on children's identities, Children's Geographies, 7(3), 277 - 290. Twomey, C (1999), “Courting Men: Mothers, Magistrates and Welfare in the Australian Colonies,” Women’s history review 2, 231–246.
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