Slumming in Late-Victorian London: Evolving Discourse on Poverty and Philanthropy
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2020
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Haverford College. Department of History
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
Seth Koven, the author of Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London, defined slumming as "activities undertaken by people of wealth, social standing, or education in urban spaces inhabited by the poor" throughout the century before World War II. Undeniably, the slumming experiences influenced and shaped how the elites represented the urban poor, perceived social problems and developed solutions to them. In this thesis, I seek to argue that the slumming experiences of missionaries, social reformers and journalists contributed to form a joint narrative on poverty and philanthropy. This narrative increased public awareness of urban poverty, encouraged an examination of structural inequalities instead of individual temperaments as the cause of social problems, and resulted in development of philanthropic institutions to accommodate for the neglect in governmental poor relief. In Section I, I analyze missionary accounts to argue that the slumming experiences encouraged a more sympathetic view of the poor and developed a paternalistic charity model. In Section II, I use the case study of Dr. Barnardo, a social reformer, to argue that the slumming experience made him recognize the vulnerability of poor children and hence directly resulted in his development of targeted philanthropic efforts to protect and raise the young. In Section III, I examine two types of slum journalism, sensational accounts and reform-minded tracks, to argue that the slumming experiences raised public awareness on slum conditions and criticized the contemporary societal and governmental structures that sustained the suffering.