The State and the Social Problem: Some Lessons from a Quarter of a Century of Social Insurance
| Published date | 01 July 1936 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1936.tb02434.x |
| Author | A. M. Carr‐Saunders |
| Date | 01 July 1936 |
The
State
and
the
Social
Problem
:
Some
Lessons
from
a
Quarter
of
a
Century
of
Social
Insurance
By
Professor
A.
M.
CARR-!&UNDEXS,
M.A.
Liverpod
University
[Paper
to
be discussed
at
the Su~m.er Conference
of
the Institute
at
University College,
Oxford,
July,
19361
HE
annual
return
rendered to the House
of
Commons
under the
T
heading
of
Public
Social
Services gives, not only particulars
for
these services
as
they are to-day, but
also
particulars
for
such of these
services
as
existed at certain dates
in
the past. From
this
source
we
learn that
in
1g00,
the earliest date for
which
information
is
given
in
the return, there were
6
of
these services in existence:
in
1910,
7;
in
1920,
13;
and
in
1930,
14.
If
we
carry
back the
story
a
little
further we find that during the greater part
of
the nineteenth century
there was virtually
only
one
of
these services
in
existence, namely, the
Poor Law, now
known
as Public Assistance. But these facts regard-
ing
the number
of
services do not represent the whole
of
the
story;
for
there
is
hardly
an
exception to the fact that each service began
on
a
modest scale and has since expanded out
of
all
recognition.
Thus
during the post-War period there has been very little addition to the
list; but there has been an immense expansion
of
many
of
the
existing services during that time.
It
would be
of
interest
to
discuss
at length the reasons for
this
remarkable development. But there
is
no
space
here
to
take
note
only
of
a
few facts.
This
development
was
not based
on
any
theory
or
preconceived plan as was the case in Germany where
social
insurance was introduced by Bismarck
in
advance of public opinion
as a piece
of
carefully designed statecraft.
It
may be traced
to
an
awakening and
a
deepening
of
ae
social
conscience. The com-
placency about poverty and
its
attendant
evils
and the
assurance
that
all that was
wrong
would mend
itself,
if
the prevailing trends
were allowed to work themselves out,
began
to give way
in
the
sixties
of
the
last
century. Evidence
of
this
may
be
seen in the
240
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