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History 49 HISTORY History 49 clarifying major issues. A greater emphasis on pragmatism weakening of traditional ties in these communities. Because is leading to the development of practical and lens time-con- most transients were poor, their presence put a heavy burden suming techniques. Psychoanalytic therapy is here to stay, on the traditional practice of poor relief and encouraged a and its future can be viewed as a quest for principles and more systematic and rational view of the problem. The revi- operations that stand the test of scientific rigor. RIESHA LEVY sion of the state poor law in 1794 institutionalized these See Also: 79, 82, 97, 164, 166-67, 170, 177, 182, 185, 192, changes. ht brought an end to the warnings-out system 199, 201, 208, 210, 222-23, 227-29, 233, 245-46, 248-49, and provided towns with a more efficient method of removing 286-87. the unsettled poor. But it also required towns to provide im- mediate relief to all persons who needed it, regardless of their residence status, and it contributed in other ways to a HISTORY sharing and routinization of power that had earlier been left to the inclination of individual communities. JAMES LEIBY 270. BAUGH, D. A. The cost of poor relief in South-East England, 1790-1834. Economie History Review, 23(1): 50- 273. NEUMAN, R. P. Masturbation, madness, and the mod- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/swra/article/13/1/49/1613756 by guest on 27 September 2021 68, 1975. ern concepts of childhood and adolescente. Journal of Social Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y. History, 1-27, 1975. A painstaking computer-assisted analysis of parish expendi- State Univ. College, Fredonia, N.Y. tures on poor relief shows that the Speenhamland or allow- A study of how attitudes toward masturbation by men ance system did not have the evil effects attributed to it by changed between 1700 and 1914 observed that before 1700 the Poor Law reformers of 1834. Expenditures were adjusted masturbation was viewed as a sin, a denial of the natural according to changes in the parish population and the value function of procreation, but not as medically significant. Over of money. Although expenditures varied among parishes and the next 200 years, however, physicians identified masturba- at different points in time, these fluctuations were not related tion as a significant health problem that could lead to madness. to whether the magistraten followed the Speenhamland prac- The change was associated with a prolonging of adolescente; ice. Apparently, the main cause was the prosperity of the puberty began earlier—a result of changes in diet—and the rural economy, not the policy toward relief. The analysis time of establishing a household was delayed, particularly covers more than a thousand parishes in three counties that among the middle class. The adolescent was subjected to were assumed to be most affected by the Speenhamland sys- close supervision to protect him from his sexuality. Authori- tem. JAMES LEIBY ties believed that "self-abuse" was detrimental not only to physical and mental health but also to the ability to work and 271. DIGBY, A. The labour market and the continuity of so- achieve. Parents who had been taught to repress recollections cial policy after 1834: the case of the eastern counties. Eco- of their own childhood sexuality repressed the appearance of nomic History Review, 28(1): 69-83, 1975. it in their children. Although there were different views about Homerton College, Cambridge, England masturbation in the middle class, even those who accepted masturbation as natural advocated sexual abstinente and sub- Advocates of the New Poor Law of 1834 hoped that the pro- limation until marriage. JAMES LEIBY hibition of outdoor relief and the allowance system and its replacement by indoor relief in the workhouse would reduce 274. Poor law and poor relief in the 19th-century Midlands. rural pauperism among the able-bodied. They believed that Midland History, 2(4) : 215-49, 1974. workers would seek employment rather than subtuit to the rigors of the workhouse and that farmers would find employ- Three articles present detailed information about many dif- ment for surplus seasonal workers rather than pay the taxes ferent features of poor relief in the years when Poor Law for indoor relief for them and their families because the cost Reform was conceived and implemented. In "Relief of Urban of indoor relief was twice the ordinary cost of wages. A study Poverty Outside the Poor Law, 1800-1850: A Study of Nott- of the rural counties in which pauperism among the able- ingham," R. Smith describes three kinds of organized volun- bodied was a great problem showed that these hopes were tary efforts: (1) Friendly Societies: the Masons for the unfulfilled. Laborers and especially employers found ways wealthy and the Oddfellows for skilied labor, (2) endowed to evade the new law and to continue outdoor relief on a charities, most of which were private hospitals and alms- large scale. For example, much outdoor relief was allowed houses, although some provided outdoor relief in cash or under the exception of sickness or accident, or workers were kind, and (3) voluntary charities (supported by contribu- supported by the highway rate rather than the poor rate. tions), which included a large general hospital, several dis- Both economie and noneconomic interests and attitudes that pensaries, and a few sectarian charities, in which aid was had sustained the allowance system under the Old Poor Law combined with proselytising. The study revealed that to- persisted under the new, and so did much of the system. gether these agencies provided only a small fraction of the JAMES LEIBY amount of relief offered by the Poor Law authorities. V. Walsh's study ("Old and New Poor Laws in Shropshire") of 272. JONES, D. L. The strolling poor: transiency in eigh- many parishes with different social and administrative influ- teenth-century Massachusetts. Journal of Social History, 28- ences revealed that the forms of administration introduced 54, Winter 1975. by the New Poor Law of 1834 did not make any consistent differente in the practice of relief. Although there were Brandeis Univ., Waltham, Mass. striking differences in practice among communities, they were A statistical analysis of records in selected areas in Massachu- related to differences in local problems and leadership. In setts brings out the increase and variations in migration and "Chartism and ,Opposition to the New Poor Law in Notting- transiency during the eighteenth century. A significant in- hamshire: The Basford Union Workhouse Affair of 1844," crease was associated with the growth of population and C. Griffin states that a famous scandal in workhouse adminis- 50 Economics tration under the New Poor Law proved to be unfounded in to socialism, although the political conditions of the welfare fact, but in political context it was publicized by local officials state may facilitate the development of such tendencies. who were favorable to Chartism. JAMES LEIBY Rather, the welfare state represents an attempt to deal with the disruptions and inequities, including inflation, that have See Also: 45, 53-55, 84, 88, 94, 326. arisen from the workings of industrialism and capitalist enter- prise. But the unemployed and other vulnerable groups have paid the major costs in the attempt to fight inflation. The chief sources of inflation have been a combination of govern- RELATED FIELD5 OF KNOWLEDGE ment Joan activities that have benefited the private sector; the expansion of multinational corporations; and investment Economics needs arising from changing technologies, especially in arms, space, and transportation. Social priorities need to be re- 275. BATES, T. Trends in government promotion of black ordered toward more humane ends, which will entail a radi- entrepreneurship. Review of Black Political Economy, 5(2): cal shift in federal budget allocations and corporate invest- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/swra/article/13/1/49/1613756 by guest on 27 September 2021 175-84, 1975. ment patterns. HARRIS CHAIKLIN Univ. of Vermont, Burlington, Vt. 278. FISHER, A. C., & PETERSON, F. M. The environment In 1968 the federal government established a new program in economics: a survey. Journal of Economic Literature, and expanded existing programs designed to foster the growth 14(1) : 1-33, 1976. and development of minority-owned businesses. The govern- ment's efforts stressed making long-term credit available to Univ. of Maryland, College Park, Md. minority businessmen, and the expanded lending activities Man has probably always worried about his environment be- were rationalized by ambiguous references to "compensatory cause he was once totally dependent on it. His first concerns capitalism." Always dominant in the government's attempts were, nc doubt, for extractive resources like water, salt, and to finance minority enterprise is the Small Business Admin- food. Nineteenth-century economists also considered pros- istration (SBA). Examination of SBA's overall minority busi- pects for raw materials for industry. Contrary to the classical ness lending effort indicates that government loans to promote —and some much more recent—impressions, the outlook ap- black capitalism have been declining over the last four years. pears to be encouraging. Models of optimal ratel of use of The SBA is promoting entrepreneurship for blacks and other renewable and nonrenewable resources, drawing on the recent minority groups by (1) relying increasingly on guaranteeing theoretical literature, are presented. Gradually, a new view bank loans against default risk and (2) providing relatively has evolved that recognizes the importance of amenity ser- more loans to other minority groups and fewer loans to blacks. vices derived from the environment. According to the inter- When measured by numbers of Joan approvals and relative pretation presented here, the new view has two distinct fo- emphasis on lending to whites and others, the government's cuses that parallel the traditional ones on extractive resources.
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