English Poor Laws - Historiography

Historiography

The historiography of the Poor Laws has passed through several distinct phases. The "traditionalist" or "orthodox" account of the Poor Laws focuses upon the deficiencies of the Old Poor Law. This early historiography was influential in successfully overhauling the system. Blaug presents the first revisionist analysis of the Poor Law in “The Myth of the Old Poor Law and the making of the New” arguing that the Old Poor Law did not reduce the efficiency of agricultural workers, lower wages, depress rents or compound the burden on rate payers. Instead Blaug argues that Old Poor Law was a device "for dealing with the problems of structural unemployment and substandard wages in the lagging rural sector of a rapidly growing but still underdeveloped economy". Other areas of Poor Law historiography which have concerned historians include the extent to which the Second Great Reform Act contributed to the Poor Law Amendment Act and the extend to which outdoor relief was abolished following the New Poor Law.