Almost Worthy
The Poor, Paupers, and the Science of Charity in America, 1877-1917
1st Edition
Published on 17. December 2012
288 pages
978-0-253-00638-7 (ISBN)
Description
In the 1880s, social reform leaders warned that the "unworthy" poor were taking charitable relief intended for the truly deserving. Armed with statistics and confused notions of evolution, these "scientific charity" reformers founded organizations intent on limiting access to relief by the most morally, biologically, and economically unfit. Brent Ruswick examines a prominent national organization for scientific social reform and poor relief in Indianapolis in order to understand how these new theories of poverty gave birth to new programs to assist the poor.
Reviews / Votes
[This] study provides a welcome insight into the inner workings of charity organization societies and their drive to eliminate poverty.43.4 2014 * NONPROFIT & VOLUNTARY SEC QTLY * Ruswick's well-researched monograph traces the history of the charity organization society in the US from its origins in the Gilded Age to its merging with social work in the Progressive Era. . . . Recommended. * Choice * Almost Worthy offers a lot of interesting detail pulled from COS case files, professional conference proceedings, journals of the field, and more; some possibly fruitful hypotheses about what to make of changes in COS approaches over time; thoughtful new propositions about the relationship between scientific charity and eugenics (including some charity reformers' apparent remorse); and a fresh, new mini-biography of Oscar McCulloch interspersed throughout. * H-SHGAPE * Brent Ruswick wants to put the science back into scientific charity. He argues that the essence of organized charity was not its class prejudices and censorious attitude toward the poor, but rather its belief that systematic evidence-gathering could serve to improve the quality of charity work and public policy. October 2014 119.4 * American Historical Review *All prices
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Bloomington, IN
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Illustrations
10 b&w illus.
File size
1,86 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-253-00638-7 (9780253006387)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
12/2012
Indiana University Press
€35.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Brent Ruswick is Assistant Professor of History at West Chester University. He is currently researching a book on the "mutual aid" theory of evolution in American reform.
Content
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: Big Moll and the Science of Scientific Charity
2. "Armies of Vice": Evolution, Heredity, and the Pauper Menace
3. Friendly Visitors or Scientific Investigators? Befriending and Measuring the Poor
4. Opposition, Depression, and the Rejection of Pauperism
5. "I See No Terrible Army": Environmental Reform and Radicalism in the Scientific Charity Movement
6 The Potentially Normal Poor: Professional Social Work, Psychology, and the End of Scientific Charity
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
1. Introduction: Big Moll and the Science of Scientific Charity
2. "Armies of Vice": Evolution, Heredity, and the Pauper Menace
3. Friendly Visitors or Scientific Investigators? Befriending and Measuring the Poor
4. Opposition, Depression, and the Rejection of Pauperism
5. "I See No Terrible Army": Environmental Reform and Radicalism in the Scientific Charity Movement
6 The Potentially Normal Poor: Professional Social Work, Psychology, and the End of Scientific Charity
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
