Interdisciplinární časopis se zaměřuje především ze sociologického, politologického a historického hlediska na problematiku dlouhodobých sociálních procesů a trendů, modernizace, globalizačních tendencí a vlivů. Časopis vytváří širší platformu pro badatele v historických sociálních vědách. Epistemologické pole časopisu není striktně ohraničené a počítá s přesahy do civilizacionistiky, kulturní sociologie a dalších spřízněných oblastí.
Časopis vydává nakladatelství Univerzity Karlovy v Praze Karolinum ve spolupráci s Fakultou humanitních studií Univerzity Karlovy v Praze.
Historická sociologie je vědecký časopis s otevřeným přístupem, což znamená, že veškerý obsah je volně k dispozici bez poplatku pro uživatele nebo instituci. Uživatelé mohou číst, stahovat, kopírovat, distribuovat, tisknout, vyhledávat nebo odkazovat na plné texty článků v tomto časopise, aniž by potřebovali předchozí povolení od vydavatele nebo autora.
Recenzovaný vědecký časopis vychází dvakrát ročně, v červnu a v prosinci.
Časopis je abstraktován a indexován v CEEOL, CEJSH, DOAJ, EBSCO, Emerging Sources Citation Index, ERIH PLUS, OAJI, recensio.net, Scopus, SSOAR, Ulrichsweb.
Dlouhodobou archivaci elektronického obsahu časopisu zajišťuje Portico.
HISTORICKÁ SOCIOLOGIE, Vol 17 No 2 (2025), 69–85
ArticleThe Blameless and the Feckless: The Enduring Stereotypes of the Deserving and Undeserving Poor in Britain’s Past and Present
Alice Tihelková
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/23363525.2025.16
zveřejněno: 30. 12. 2025
Abstract
Since the onset of the Early Modern era, which unleashed forces of unprecedented economic growth while also engendering considerable social instability, Britain has faced increased risks of mass poverty. Originally understood as a natural social condition and mostly spared from judgment, poverty gradually began to be seen as a social problem and a financial burden as the state assumed the role of the provider of poor relief in the form of so-called Poor Laws. To determine eligibility while keeping relief costs manageable, the categories of the deserving and undeserving poor were developed, based on the claimants’ ability and willingness to work. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this categorization took on strongly moralizing overtones, with poverty seen as individual moral failure rather than the result of systemic forces. Combining the historical approach with Critical Discourse Analysis, the article examines the remarkable resilience of the deserving-undeserving narrative in Britain’s public debate and policymaking across time. It demonstrates that the tendency to blame the poor for their plight has not disappeared but continues taking on new forms as political actors seek to justify ongoing or planned social spending cuts.
klíčová slova: Poor Laws; undeserving poor; welfare reform; Margaret Thatcher; David Cameron; austerity
reference (42)
1. Bennett, Asa [2014]. Edwina Currie Says 'Pernicious' Food Banks Make People Poorer. Huffington Post, 28 January 2014 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/28/edwina-currie-food-banks-_n_4680965.html].
2. Binder, David. Attitudes Towards Welfare and Welfare Recipients Are Hardening. LSE, 22 August 2013 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/scrounging-off-the-state-hardening-attitudes-toward-welfare-and-its-recipients].
3. Biresi, Anita - Nunn, Heather. Class and Culture on Contemporary Britain. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
4. Blair, Tony [2006]. Our Nation's Future - Social Exclusion. British Political Speech [online]. Retrieved from: [https://shib.zcu.cz/idp/profile/SAML2/Redirect/SSO?execution=e1s1].
5. Bruening, Elizabeth [2018]. The Undeserving Poor: A Very Tiny History. Medium, 7 January 2018 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://medium.com/@ebruenig/the-undeserving-poor-a-very-tiny-history-96c3b9141e13].
6. Bulman, May [2018]. Esther McVey? New DWP Minister's Statements about People on Benefits and the Policies She Has Voted For. The Independent, 9 January 2018 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/esther-mcvey-dwp-benefits-welfare-stance-comments-controversial-a8149811.html].
7. Burleigh, Martin [2017]. When Poverty Was Often Blamed on Moral Failings. UnHerd, 1 August 2017 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://unherd.com/2017/08/remembering-time-poverty-often-blamed-moral-failings].
8. Cameron, David [2012]. Welfare Speech, 25 June 2012. GOV.UK [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/welfare-speech].
9. DeCastella, Tom [2012]. Beveridge Report: From 'Deserving Poor' to 'Scroungers'? BBC News, 26 November 2012 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20431729].
10. Demianyk, Graeme [2016]. Ken Loach On BBC Question Time Accuses Tory Government Of 'Conscious Cruelty' Over Benefits Sanctions. Huffington Post, 28 October 2016 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/question-time-ken-loach-accuses-government-conscious-cruelty-benefits-sanctions_uk_581275f3e4b0672ea6885246].
11. Elledge, John [2023]. The Absurdity of the Tories' "On Your Bike" Plea. New Statesman, 5 August 2023 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2023/08/the-absurdity-of-the-tories-on-your-bike-plea].
12. Fairclough, Norman [2010]. Critical Discourse Analysis. The Critical Study of Language. London: Routledge.
13. Gill, Kate [2024]. Robert Jenrick Responds to Backlash Over 'Cannibalism' Comment. The Independent, 4 June 2023 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/cannibalising-migrants-robert-jenrick-uk-public-b2351229.html].
14. Green, Chris [2014]. British People Stopped Believing in the Benefits System due to Tony Blair, Researchers Claim. The Independent, 25 September 2014 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-people-stopped-believing-in-the-benefits-due-to-tony-blair-researchers-claim-9753824.html].
15. Hindle, Steve [2004]. Civility, Honesty and the Identification of the Deserving Poor in Seventeenth-Century England. In. French, Henry - Barry, Jonathan (eds.). Identity and Agency in England, 1500-1800. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 38-59. CrossRef
16. Jessop, Bob [2007]. New Labour or the Normalization of Neo-Liberalism. British Politics 2 (2): 282-188. CrossRef
17. Katz, Michael B. [2013]. The Undeserving Poor: America's Enduring Confrontation with Poverty. New York: Oxford University Press.
18. Lansley, Stewart - Mack, Joanna [1985]. Poor Britain. Milton: Routledge.
19. McIntosh, Marjorie [2009]. Poverty, Charity, and Coercion in Elizabethan England. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 35 (3): 457-459. CrossRef
20. Meredith, Charlotte [2013]. David Cameron: 'We Need to Help Hard-Working Families With Their Household Bills'. The Daily Express, 26 April 2013 [online]. Retrieved from: [http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/394950/David-Cameron-We-need-to-help-hard-working-families-with-their-household bills].
21. Nassau, William - Chadwick, Edwin [1834]. Poor Law Commissioners ' Report of 1834. Oline Library of Liberty [online]. Retrieved from: [https://oll-resources.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/oll3/store/titles/1461/PoorLaw_0169_EBk_v6.0.pdf].
22. Orsi, Cosma [2017]. The Political Economy of Inclusion: The Rise and Fall of the Workhouse System. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 39 (4): 453-481. CrossRef
23. Padfield, Deborah [2017]. Cameron's Collective Responsibility. Open Democracy, 29 June 2012 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/camerons-collective-responsibility].
24. Patriquin, Larry [2007]. Speenhamland, Settlement and the New Poor Law. In. Agrarian Capitalism and Poor Relief in England, 1500-1860. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 117-150. CrossRef
25. Pring, John [2022]. The Department for Work and Pensions: Deaths, Cover-up, and a Toxic 30-year Legacy. Disability News Service, 27 March 2022 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/the-department-for-work-and-pensions-deaths-cover-up-and-a-toxic-30-year-legacy].
26. Reeves, Rachel [2024]. I Have to Make Tough Decisions on Tax in My Budget But It Will Be Worth It Because I Have Your Backs. The Sun, 26 October 2024 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/31327856/rachel-reeves-budget-tax].
27. Reform Leader Nigel Farage Speaks at a Noon 'Mass Meeting' in Durham [2023]. YouTube - Guardian News [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3LZv4DF_sQ].
28. Report of The Royal Commission on The Poor Laws and Relief of Distress [1909]. The British Medical Journal 2512 (1): 479-484 [online] Retrieved from: [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25281008]. CrossRef
29. Roberts, Leonard H. [2007]. Bridewell: The World's First Attempt at Prisoner Rehabilitation through Education. Journal of Correctional Education 35 (3): 83-85.
30. Seabrook, Jeremy [2013]. Pauperland. Poverty and the Poor in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
31. Shafik, Minouche [2021]. What We Owe Each Other a New Social Contract for a Better Society. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
32. Slack, Paul [2009]. The English Poor Law 1531-1782. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
33. Spencer, Herbert [1995]. Social Statics. New York: Robert Schalkenbach Foundation.
34. Swinford, Steven [2015]. David Cameron Pledges 600,000 Childcare to 'Make Work Pay' . The Telegraph, 22 April 2015. Retrieved from: [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/11553618/David-Cameron-pledges-600000-childcare-to-make-work pay.html?msockid=22342fd6f86b6ddf32803b7bf9ad6c88].
35. Tihelková, Alice [2015]. Framing the 'Scroungers': the Re-emergence of the Stereotype of the Undeserving Poor and its Reflection in the British Press. Brno Studies in English 41 (2): 121-139. CrossRef
36. Tihelková, Alice [2022]. An Heir to Disraeli or Cameron? A Critical Look at Boris Johnson's Rhetoric of One Nation Conservatism. Hradec Králové Journal of Anglophone Studies 9 (1-2): 140-149.
37. Tihelková, Alice [2024]. Things Can Only Get Dickensian: An Analysis of Media Coverage of Britain's Cost of Living Crisis. American and British Studies Annual 17 (1): 37-42. CrossRef
38. Toth, Albert [2024]. What is Austerity - And Why Is Rachel Reeves Accused of Bringing it Back. The Independent, 23 September 2024 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/what-is-austerity-rachel-reeves-speech-labour-b2617341.html].
39. Vincent, A. W. [1984]. The Poor Law Reports of 1909 and the Social Theory of the Charity Organization Society. Victorian Studies 27 (3): 343-363.
40. Walker, Martin [1994]. What Thatcher Really Did. World Policy Journal 10 (4): 101-118.
41. Warwick-Booth, Louise [2019]. Social Inequality. London: Sage.
42. Wolff, Jonathan [2019]. The Myth of the Undeserving Poor. New Statesman, 22 November 2019 [online]. Retrieved from: [https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2019/11/the-myth-of-the-undeserving-poor].
The Blameless and the Feckless: The Enduring Stereotypes of the Deserving and Undeserving Poor in Britain’s Past and Present is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
230 x 157 mm
vychází: 2 x ročně
cena tištěného čísla: 120 Kč
ISSN: 1804-0616
E-ISSN: 2336-3525
