lecture 5 poverty and inequality

Question 1

what are problems with premodern poverty?

Answer 1

No hard data on premodern modern
poverty rates and inequality in cities

Question 2

what do we know about premodern poverty?

Answer 2

1. Large majority was poor
2. Low life expectancy (urban graveyard)
3. Malthusian effect: population tends to increase at a faster rate than its means of subsistence

Question 3

Social patterns of European cities between 1500
and 1800 were characterized by:

Answer 3

1. Structural inequality
2. Complex systems of inclusion and exclusion
3. Large majority of city dwellers were unskilled labourers

Question 4

how many percent from the urban population made use of poor relief?

Answer 4

ca. 10-25%

Question 5

Networks of poor relief and charity

Answer 5

• Church and urban government
• Citizens’ initiatives (craft guilds, neighborhoods, mutual help).
• Catholic belief: works of mercy

Question 6

Changes in European poor relief between 1500 and 1800

Answer 6

1. Professionalization
2. Increasing power of urban government
3. Distinction between deserving and
   undeserving
4. Rise of workhouses and prisons

Question 7

why were there changes in european poor relief between 1500-1800?

Answer 7

Urbanization and religious reform

Question 8

Ottoman city: 1500-1800

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Social control, poverty and crime

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Social provisioning in Qing China
Various associations formed social networks:

Answer 10

1. Kinship group or lineage (often related to enterprises)
2. Brotherhoods of surplus males
3. Neighborhood temples
4. Migrant communities (huiguang)
5. Artisan Guilds (hang)

Question 11

Urban public services and power central government
Everywhere in the premodern period (Europe, Ottoman Empire and China):

Answer 11

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.)

Question 12

19th-20th centuries witnessed:

Answer 12

Huge population and urban growth
Growth of big cities in Europe

Question 13

State formation important factor:

Answer 13

Capital cities emerged
Increasing bureaucratization (services, buildings, administration)
Migration from countryside and small towns to cities

Question 14

Urban Graveyard

Answer 14

Premodern period: food shortage, bad sanitation and epidemics
resulted in high mortality rates

Question 15

After the industrialization:

Answer 15

• 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

Question 16

Social problems caused by modern growth
Poor physical conditions:

Answer 16

Lack of clean water
Overcrowded houses
Emergency of slums
No adequate health and social care

Question 17

Social problems caused by modern growth
Consequence:

Answer 17

• Spread of diseases (cholera,
  tuberculosis)
• High death rates of children and poor
  city dwellers

Question 18

After ca. 1850 awareness of urban sanitary
and social problems:

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

Health and sanitation
Improvements from the 19th c. onwards:

Answer 19

Sanitation infrastructures
Public health science
Publicly funded healthcare

Question 20

Health and sanitation
Public health planning initiated by cities

Answer 20

Collection of garbage
Water supply
Sewerage

Question 21

Poverty Latin America
Development of population growth after ca. 1930

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Post-Mao China

Answer 22

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)

Question 23

Post-Mao China
Consequences:

Answer 23

Increasing inequality
Socio-economic segregation
Urban housing, education and provisions reflect onechild families

Question 24

Environmental problems: pollution
Industrialization led to problems:

Answer 24

Intensified impact of energy use on theenvironment: transition from wood-based economy to fossil fuels
Increasing automobile emissions
Concentration of industries in urban area