lecture 5 poverty and inequality Flashcards
what are problems with premodern poverty?
No hard data on premodern modern
poverty rates and inequality in cities
what do we know about premodern poverty?
- Large majority was poor
- Low life expectancy (urban graveyard)
- Malthusian effect: population tends to increase at a faster rate than its means of subsistence
Social patterns of European cities between 1500
and 1800 were characterized by:
- Structural inequality
- Complex systems of inclusion and exclusion
- Large majority of city dwellers were unskilled labourers
how many percent from the urban population made use of poor relief?
ca. 10-25%
Networks of poor relief and charity
- Church and urban government
- Citizens’ initiatives (craft guilds, neighborhoods, mutual help).
- Catholic belief: works of mercy
Changes in European poor relief between 1500 and 1800
- Professionalization
- Increasing power of urban government
- Distinction between deserving and
undeserving - Rise of workhouses and prisons
why were there changes in european poor relief between 1500-1800?
Urbanization and religious reform
Ottoman city: 1500-1800
Very similar social structure compared to European
cities
* The importance of the mahalles (city quarter in
social life
* Plurality of courts (kadi justice)
* Vakif or waqf: proving care, education, health and
other public services
* Guilds
Social control, poverty and crime
Urban courts, churches/mosques and civil institutions (guilds,
neighborhoods/quarters, civic militia, etc.) instruments of crime control
* Also instruments of social control of the poor and deviance
* Urban court represents urban power
Social provisioning in Qing China
Various associations formed social networks:
- Kinship group or lineage (often related to enterprises)
- Brotherhoods of surplus males
- Neighborhood temples
- Migrant communities (huiguang)
- Artisan Guilds (hang)
Urban public services and power central government
Everywhere in the premodern period (Europe, Ottoman Empire and China):
Autonomy of urban social networks and associations depends on control and power central government
Strong central governments > weaker urban institutions
Providing social services represents power
Continuous negotiations between central government, urban government and urban associations (family, guilds, neighborhoods, waqfs, etc.)
19th-20th centuries witnessed:
Huge population and urban growth
Growth of big cities in Europe
State formation important factor:
Capital cities emerged
Increasing bureaucratization (services, buildings, administration)
Migration from countryside and small towns to cities
Urban Graveyard
Premodern period: food shortage, bad sanitation and epidemics
resulted in high mortality rates
After the industrialization:
- Rise in real wages > increasing living standard
- Decline of child mortality
- Sustained improvement in health
- Life expectancy before 1900: no longer than 25-40 years
- Global divide and inequality in health and life expectancy
Social problems caused by modern growth
Poor physical conditions:
Lack of clean water
Overcrowded houses
Emergency of slums
No adequate health and social care
Social problems caused by modern growth
Consequence:
- Spread of diseases (cholera,
tuberculosis) - High death rates of children and poor
city dwellers
After ca. 1850 awareness of urban sanitary
and social problems:
- Private (both religious and secular) initiatives to improve lives of the poor
- Particularly female philanthropic groups
- Improvement housing conditions
- Social reform (child labour laws, factory laws, etc.)
- Improvement of health (sanitary conditions and medical conditions) increase responsibilties government
Health and sanitation
Improvements from the 19th c. onwards:
Sanitation infrastructures
Public health science
Publicly funded healthcare
Health and sanitation
Public health planning initiated by cities
Collection of garbage
Water supply
Sewerage
Poverty Latin America
Development of population growth after ca. 1930
Mega-cities
Major cities contain 25% of the total population
Poverty increasingly an urban problem (tables 495-496)
Inequality and segregation not diminished
Growing slum population
Urban governments often weak
Post-Mao China
Rapid urbanization growth (ca. 50% of the
population)
Like elsewhere related to industrialization and state
formation
Migration flows from rural areas
Changing nature of Chinese families (less focused on
family and kin)
Post-Mao China
Consequences:
Increasing inequality
Socio-economic segregation
Urban housing, education and provisions reflect onechild families
Environmental problems: pollution
Industrialization led to problems:
Intensified impact of energy use on theenvironment: transition from wood-based economy to fossil fuels
Increasing automobile emissions
Concentration of industries in urban area
