The Childhood Of The Poor

Did new modes of thought and a new perspective on ideologies of poverty and childhood affect the treatment of the young poor? Was there a notion of childhood for the labouring classes, and was it distinctive from that of the elite? In The Childhood of the Poor, Alysa Levene utlilises a wide range of sources examining parish nursing, the workhouse, charity, self help and family support to reveal how children and their families were assisted through hard times.

In doing so, she uncovers an overlapping and sometimes contradictory set of assumptions about pauper childhood, family life and the reform of society. Poor children were innocent, valued for their future labour, entitled to parental nurture and an asset to society. However, for those offering assistance 'on the ground' they were also expensive, potentially delinquent and a live expression of the Malthusian poverty trap.

This book traces these changing priorities and values over the eighteenth century: a period when childhood took on its most recognisably modern attributes. Review: Recommended by Choice