Victorian attitudes towards the poor were rather muddled. Some believed that the poor were facing their situations because they deserved it, either because of laziness or because they were simply not worthy of fortune. However, some believed it was up to personal circumstances.
How did the Victorians treat the poor?
The new Poor Law ensured that the poor were housed in workhouses, clothed and fed. Children who entered the workhouse would receive some schooling. In return for this care, all workhouse paupers would have to work for several hours each day. However, not all Victorians shared this point of view.
What are Victorian attitudes?
If we ask academics to enumerate archetypically Victorian values, they might say: prudishness, thrift, individualism, responsibility, self-reliance, an entrepreneurial spirit, the idea of the self-made man, the civilising mission, evangelism to name a few.
What was life like for the poor?
| The Poor | The Wealthy |
|---|---|
| had few luxuries. ate food they could afford to buy worked long hours lived in damp, filthy conditions. Many children died of disease. | usually well fed, clean and well clothed. didn’t need to work lived in big houses with servants went on holidays children had expensive toys children went to school |
What did Charles Dickens think about poor people?
‘ Dickens identified the reality of poverty many years before that. He acknowledged that poverty was not the fault of the people who endured it, but rather, the fault of the establishment, including the government. Indeed, I daresay that he would be of the same view today – that poverty is the fault of the government.
Why was life difficult for the poor in Victorian Britain?
Low wages and the scramble for jobs meant that people needed to live near to where work was available. Time taken walking to and from work would extend an already long day beyond endurance. Consequently available housing became scarce and therefore expensive, resulting in extremely overcrowded conditions.
How did Victorians view social class?
The Victorians liked to have their social classes clearly defined. The working class was divided into three layers, the lowest being ‘working men’ or labourers, then the ‘intelligent artisan’, and above him the ‘educated working man’. In reality, things were not so tidily demarcated.
What attitude did Victorians have which made them different?
Low tolerance of crime and antisocial/immoral behaviour.
What was considered rude in the Victorian era?
Never eat very fast. Never fill the mouth very full. Never open your mouth when chewing. Never make noise with the mouth or throat.
What attitudes did the rich hold towards the poor in the 19th century?
Victorian attitudes towards the poor were rather muddled. Some believed that the poor were facing their situations because they deserved it, either because of laziness or because they were simply not worthy of fortune. However, some believed it was up to personal circumstances.
What struggles do poor people face?
Poor people are more likely to have several kinds of family problems, including divorce and family conflict. Poor people are more likely to have several kinds of health problems. Children growing up in poverty are less likely to graduate high school or go to college, and they are more likely to commit street crime.
What are the main problems faced by poor people?
Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion as well as the lack of participation in decision-making.
What was it like for poor Victorian children?
The children of the poor were not thought to be a blessing, but often a burden on the family. With no laws to protect children, this meant they had few rights and were badly treated. Seen as simply the property of their parents, many children were abandoned, abused and even bought and sold.
How did Dickens feel the poor were treated in Victorian society?
Dickens felt strongly that Victorian society ignored the poverty of its underclass. On the one hand were the rich who enjoyed comfort and feasting at Christmas, and on the other were children forced to live in dreadful conditions in workhouses.
How did Dickens treat the poor?
But whatever ambivalences Dickens, like his contemporaries, had about poverty and the poor, one of his greatest achievements was to bring the problem of poverty to the attention of his readers through introducing varieties of poor persons into almost all of his novels, and showing the “deserving” majority of the poor,
Why was Dickens a supporter of the poor?
Dickens was a social reformer and was devoted to helping poor people in society. This was due to Dickens’ own experiences with debtors prison, which forced him to drop out of school as a boy and work at a factory.
What did Victorian society fear?
The Victorian preoccupation with social class and the fear of overstepping social boundaries is also evident and is represented by Watson’s concerns about Miss Morstan’s potential inheritance. The character of Tonga represents a Victorian fear of otherness.
What were Victorian slums like?
It was reported that the main features of slum life were ‘squalor, drunkenness, improvidence, lawlessness, immorality and crime‘. Such stories made readers feel as though part of their city was like the Wild West.
What was life like for the lower class?
The lower class is typified by poverty, homelessness, and unemployment. People of this class, few of whom have finished high school, suffer from lack of medical care, adequate housing and food, decent clothing, safety, and vocational training.
What were the two types of poor referred to during the Victorian era?
The Impotent Poor – Such as people who could not work. These were to be cared for in almshouses or in a poorhouse, a few of which existed in Ripon during this time. The Able-bodied Poor – Those who were physically able to work were set to work in a “house of industry”, with the necessary materials provided.
Was Victorian society strict?
The Victorian era is seen as an era of contradiction. Social movements that promoted public morality coincided with a divisive class system that imposed harsh living conditions on the working and lower classes. Dignity and repression were contrasted with child labor and rampant prostitution.