First published in 1986, this book examines poverty and changing attitudes towards the poor and charity across England, France and Italy. It discusses the causes of poverty and the distinctions between the poor and the class-conscious proletariat. Taking early nineteenth-century Italy as a special study, it uses the exceptionally rich documentary sources from this time to examine such issues as charity, repression, the reasons why families suffered poverty and what strategies they adopted for survival. In this study, Stuart Woolf takes full account of recent work in historical demography and in sociological studies of poverty and the welfare state to produce this original and thoughtful work. This book will be of interest to those studying the history of poverty, class and the welfare state.

The main purpose of the book is the analysis of income inequality and poverty in a comparative context. The book contains articles on the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Russia under transition. Western European countries which are under consideration are: Belgium, Catalonia, France, Germany (East and West), Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom. Objective as well as subjective approaches for measurement of poverty are used. The book gives references to public use files which could be used for own research of readers.

Women and children have always featured prominently among the critically disadvantaged.Poor Women and Children in the European Pastprovides a comparative survey of the poverty experienced by women and children in Europe by testing the applicability of the outline of the poverty life-cycle. Among the issues raised in a perceptive and wide-ranging introduction by the editors, John Henderson and Richard Wall, are the distinctive nature of women's poverty over the life-cycle, the relationship between family and demographic systems and the level of poverty, and the relative generosity of public and private charity provided by a range of European societies.

Poor Side of Europe - The Church & the (New) Poor of Western Europe

Offering a comparative perspective, this book examines working poverty - those in work who are still classified as 'poor'. It argues that the growth in numbers of working poor in Europe is due to the transition from a Keynesian Welfare State to a 'post-fordist' model of production.