On 06/10/2013, at 12:39 AM, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
> lso think that your narrative of the development of the collective
> security arrangements aka welfare state is rather limited and inconsistent
> with the vast literature on the subject. The poorhouse is prehistory when
> the dinosaurs roamed the earth ;). Much happened since then, and it is
> well documented in the literature. You may want to read Esping-Andersen,
> Skocpol or Heclo on the subject, if you do not have more interesting things
> to do ;)
You are mistaken, it is not in the past, the workhouse is alive and well. The basic criteria for relief from the "reformed" English workhouse was the (1835, i vaguely recall) "workhouse test", which essentially amounted implementing a workhouse regime which was so cruel and inhumane that the poor seeking relief passed the test by being willing to submit to the workhouse. That is, the workhouse was made so unbearable that it was safe to assume that no-one who had any conceivable alternative would willingly submit to it, only the utterly desperate would get relief.
These days here in Australia the Workhouse Test has been replaced by the Work Test. A very slight change of name, and a very slight change of emphasis. (The purpose is no longer so honestly stated, as it was in 1835) But the purpose is precisely the same, to make the conditions for poor relief so humiliating as to discourage all but the most desperate from applying.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas