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After reading Booth’s work on The Life and Labor of the People of London led me to construct my own Investigation on poverty but In a provincial town so I can then find an applicable general conclusion for a smaller populated area. My objective Is to investigate upon the living conditions that the working classes of small towns Inhabit as well as the growing problem of poverty. Preparing for my observational research I had to decide on how to collect my information as there are two methods I have found and both could be effective in coming to a general conclusion about poverty in
Britain. One method is to gather together and analyses statistics which would include looking through medical records and to get the records of the various charity branches, or to study in depth the conditions of a single typical town. In this report I have include a small inquiry sufficed to show that any picture of the condition of the working classes of provincial England based on the former method would be an incomplete and of doubtful service. Having seen the conditions of life in my own native city of York I hope to use this as a representative of the conditions that exist In any If not most of our rural towns.
I decided to undertake a detailed Investigation into both the social and economic conditions of the wage-earning classes In that city. Although amongst other questions upon which I desired to obtain information on was: What was the true legitimate measure of poverty in the city, both in extent and depth? And how much of It was due to the lack of reasonable income? And due to this lack of income how many families had sunk so far into poverty that members of their families were in chronic insufficiency of food and clothing?
Lastly if physical deterioration combined with an ensured high death rate, was it possible to gather results with such accurate estimates? When I began my investigation It soon became evident that to come to accurate results to answer my questions I would need to follow up my second choice of method which was earlier mentioned. So I began short house to house surveys to the whole of the working class In of the city, and with this I decided to obtain my information regarding the housing, occupation, and earnings of every wage-earning family in York. Also together with the number and age of the children n each family.
As my investigation progressed I found that likewise to Booth’s research into poverty the lowest wages to the working class is 21 shillings which I have concluded to be 14. 5% of the population. Along with this, the image acts as evidence to that the statistic since an average middle or upper class person can afford to spend 60% on food and the rest on clothing or leisure items, whereas a family of 4 live off 21 shillings a day. A primary objective of mine is that I should not only take Into consideration the population that is living In poverty but also the nature of the poverty.
On the streets of York there are 11,560 families which Inhabit 388 of the streets this compromises the population of 46,754. Amongst these females are females of whose total earning are Insufficient to obtain the minimum necessaries Tort ten malfeasance AT merely Pensacola inclemency. Tater seeing tens type of poverty which comes under financial struggle I believe this should be described as ‘primary poverty. Then in comparison are families whose earnings would be sufficient for the maintenance of fairly physical efficiency were it not that a small portion of it is taken up by other expenditure, whether useful or wasteful.
This poverty differs therefore this would fall under ‘secondary poverty. I am much indebted to Mr.. Charles Booth and all of his associates as they have given me helpful suggestions from time to time during the progress of this investigation, although a major aim we both pursue is for the government to perhaps consider bringing poverty in Britain into their own hands as I will later show throughout this investigation. Since official statistics have been stated to be 25% of the working population to be living in poverty, and Judging by my research I believe there are efferent views on how poverty is caused and where to draw the line on it. eft36195000So looking into depth upon the factors which effect the families living in poverty here, I believe on factor that is common in these families is that the main earner in the family has either died or is weak due to age or the uninhabitable living conditions. Looking at the image to the left this is a poverty line which I have made from my findings, it shows the basic outline of an average working class citizen in London matched with their age throughout their lifetime.
Overall I believe there are approximately 10% of people in York living in a current state of primary poverty which may be part of the reason that the life expectancy age has recently dropped for both men and women, being that most women are expected to die at 50 whereas men 47. Although the life expectancy is low (on average) my research shows that birth rates are higher which then leads me on to my next point that this causes an imbalance. Since families expanding only means more of their income has to be shared which results in the gradual edge towards the poverty line.
Therefore I live instead of opening new branches of workhouses, the government should consider helping people in poverty instead of pushing them further into working and expecting this to lead to them not being poor. When they could additionally help charities or set up a system for more employment for the more able and possibly even a national insurance act to prevent illness from leading to poverty. Hopefully in both Booth’s, my father’s and my research for poverty in Britain that this will change political views and produce a more positive impact so that poverty will become reduced. Erasures De Silva