John Offer
Biographic Data
| ID | 247370 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John Offer |
| GIVEN NAMES | John |
| FAMILY NAME | Offer |
| SIGNATURE | OFFER J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Ulster |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 77 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
On welfare pluralism, social policy and the contribution of sociology: Revisiting Robert Pinker
On occasion it makes sound sense to undertake a retrospective review of a late colleague's contribution to his or her subject area. This applies to Robert Pinker, Professor of Social Administration at the London School of Economics, who died at the age of 89 in February 2021. Over a long life he made a major impact on working for press freedom and to social work studies, but this article concerns his work on social policy, and particularly on the…
Social Theory and Social Policy
Originally published in 1971 and now reissued with a new Preface by John Offer this book examines the historical origins, (both institutional and academic) of social policy and administration and the theoretical contribution of such key figures in the development of the social sciences as Marx, Spencer, Weber and Durkheim. It then analyses the application of normative theory in this field; examines the concepts of exchange and stigma in social we…
Social Solidarity and Herbert Spencer: Not the Oxymoron That Might Be Assumed
This article attempts to retrieve important aspects of Spencer's sociology from the general neglect and misrepresentation which threatens to overwhelm it all. It does touch in passing on many such highly dubious contentions as that he was a "social Darwinist," but the prime focus is to deal with three linked themes. First, the article examines the significance of his attribution to individuals of "social self-consciousness" as part of sociality, …
Herbert Spencer, Sociological Theory, and the Professions
This article presents new insights into Spencer's theoretical sociology as he applied it to the professions and professional institutions, which he discussed extensively, particularly in his Principles of Sociology. The first part of this article notes the main conceptual insights which he established and aligns them within the wider context of a re-reading of Spencer's sociology. Particular attention is paid to the "social organism" and the spon…
Social Policy and Welfare Pluralism: Selected Writings of Robert Pinker
Robert Pinker has written extensively on social policy matters since the early 1960s. His distinct approach to understanding concepts such as welfare pluralism is of particular relevance today as welfare pluralism remains an essential component of the policy mix, giving people access to a greater range and diversity of statutory, voluntary, and private sector services than unitary models of welfare provide. Social Policy and Welfare Pluralism pre…
A Philosophy of Charity and the Debates over the English and Irish Poor Laws in the 1830s
The role of charity as a provider of relief was notably little discussed in the comprehensive English Poor Law Report of 1834. By contrast, however, the debate at the time in Ireland over whether any kind of Poor Law at all was desirable ranged much more broadly, with the respective roles of statutory and voluntary provision hotly contested. In fact, beyond the confines of the English Report itself, the topic of the place of charity in relief was…
Bringing it 'Home'? Sociological Practice and the Practice of Sociology
Since Sociology was established in 1967, the journal has assumed a significant role in shaping the discipline. In the interim years it is often said that the very practice of sociology has now 'spun out' beyond the dedicated departments that were once the centres of sociological practice. This raises questions as to the relationship between sociology and other disciplines, questions that are compelling and arguably distinct from a welcome recogni…
A new reading of Spencer on 'society', 'organicism' and 'spontaneous order
Herbert Spencer represented societies as 'social organisms', but he also interpreted social life as a 'spontaneous order'. This new reading of Spencer argues that these positions are not incompatible. The sociological challenge he tackled was how to conceptualise order, pattern and change in the mutually interdependent lives of social individuals as moral beings. Many critics, including Tönnies, Durkheim and Bosanquet, overlooked the subtlety of …
Christian Political Economics, Richard Whately and Irish Poor Law Theory
The Irish poor law debate of the 1830s has largely been overlooked, but is a substantial source in understanding the impact of social theory concerning 'virtue' on social policy making in the early nineteenth century and on into the present time. The Chair of the Royal Commission for Inquiring into the Condition of the Poorer Classes in Ireland (1833-36) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Richard Whately, a leading figure in intellec…
From 'natural selection' to 'survival of the fittest: On the significance of Spencer's refashioning of Darwin in the 1860s
This article examines what Spencer meant by his expression 'survival of the fittest' and its status in the explanation of change. It shows how in his Principles of Biology the expression was introduced in connection with his discussion of Darwin's mechanism of species change, 'natural selection', which he wished to incorporate into his all-embracing theory of evolution. The analysis demonstrates through textual examination that the relationship b…
The Proper Sphere of Government
Things of the first importance – principles influencing all the transactions of a country – principles involving the weal or woe of nations, are very generally taken for granted by society. When a certain line of conduct, however questionable may be its policy – however momentous may be its good or evil results, has been followed by our ancestors, it usually happens that the great masses of mankind continue the same course of action, without ever…
Robert Pinker, the Idea of Welfare and the Study of Social Policy: On Unitarism and Pluralism
This article reappraises the distinction upon which Robert Pinker has insisted since the 1970s between the heuristic and the normative dimensions of concepts and theories associated with 'welfare' in social policy studies, a distinction prompted by, for instance, the writings of Richard Titmuss. It discusses Pinker's differentiation of forms of study which seek to account for the likenesses and unlikenesses within and between the welfare systems …
Social Change and Selectionist Thought: On Spencer, Darwin and Runciman
Deep divisions persist within sociology over the potential of a neo-Darwinian selectionist paradigm of explanation to contribute positively to social theory and research. Herbert Spencer's concern with the progressive direction of evolution, and uncertainty about the divergences between Darwinian and Spencerian thought over 'natural selection' and the 'survival of the fittest', often freight preconceptions of the potential of the paradigm. This a…
An intellectual history of British social policy: Idealism versus non-idealism
Virtue', 'Citizen Character' and 'Social Environment: Social Theory and Agency in Social Policy since 1830
This article takes a fresh look at the intellectual context of the poor law in Britain and Ireland from the 1830s to the 1930s, and is focused on the different conceptions over time of the 'service user' as agent (drawing on Le Grand) in relation to a fundamental contrast between social theory which is 'non-idealist' and 'idealist' (drawing on Harris). It first examines the ideas of liberal tories, rather than Benthamites, in remodelling the poor…
Dead Theorists and Older People: Spencer, Idealist Social Thought and Divergent Prescriptions For Care
The years between 1880 and 1910 saw a great deal of discussion of social policy issues, including the circumstances of elderly people.Whilst considerable attention has been paid to proposals for old-age pensions, little has been said on ideas of care and the social theory which nourished them.This article discusses the views on care of Herbert Spencer, and those expressed in the majority and minority reports of the Royal Commission on the Poor La…
Idealism Versus Non-Idealism: New Light on Social Policy and Voluntary Action in Britain Since 1880
This paper applies the contrast between idealist and non-idealist modes of thought to an examination and categorization of ideas and practices of voluntary action in Britain in the period from the1880s to the 1990s. In particular, the paper explores: (1) idealism and non-idealism as properties of social theories about voluntary action; (2) idealist and non-idealist social thought in voluntary organizations; (3) pro-state idealist social thought i…
Free Agent or 'Conscious Automaton'? Contrasting Interpretations of the Individual in Spencer's Writing on Social and Moral Life
Herbert Spencer remains an important and intriguing figure in thinking about political, social and moral matters. At present his writings in relation to idealist thought, social policy, sociology and ethics are undergoing reassessment. This article is concerned with some recent interpretations of Spencer on individuals in social life. It looks in some detail at Spencer's work on psychology and sociology as well as on ethics, seeking to establish …
Idealist thought, social policy and the rediscovery of informal care
Recent work in the history of welfare has suggested a need to reconsider the status of some conceptual frameworks within sociology and social policy studies regarding the meaning of ‘social welfare’ and the ‘welfare state’. In this context, the present article argues in particular that the marked upswing of interest in informal care in the UK beginning in the 1970s reflected, at least in part, a reaction, itself not so far adequately understood, …
Spencer's Future of Welfare: A Vision Eclipsed
Spencer's sustained opposition to statutory welfare provisions, based on his theory of social and general evolution, is generally familiar. Much less familiar, however, are his positive arguments, made at various points in his Principles of Sociology, Principles of Ethics and other places, in favour of what he calls 'positive private beneficence' (which today would be called 'informal welfare' or 'informal care'). Unfamiliar also are his analysis…
Sociological Theory and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge: A Reply to Steve Fuller
Fuller's review essay, 'Is There Life for Sociological Theory after the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge?' (1995), puts theory in the dock and finds it wanting. His treatment of sociological theory suggests, indeed, that the death penalty is warranted. The essay is thus potentially of the utmost importance. But is Fuller's case for the prosecution as good as he thinks it is? I wish to argue that it is not. By 'sociological theory' Fuller means '…
Political Writings: Political Writings
This book places Spencer's famous argument for political individualism in his The Man versus the State alongside his early The Proper Sphere of Government, out of which, after due gestation, emerged not only The Man versus the State but also Social Status and his all-embracing theory of evolution. Both are valuable as unyielding statements of anti-state political theory and as sources of perceptive comments on political events of the times. An in…
Social Administration and Its Relationship to the Sociology of Welfare
Questions of the form ‘what is “x”?’ raise their heads from time to time, and are often very important. Whether the question is ‘what is virtue?’ or ‘what is sociology?’ the search is on for something fundamental. At least one philosopher seems to have handled that most awkward of ‘what is “x”?’ questions ‘what is philosophy?’ with both humour and wisdom: ‘The story is told that the preferred response of G.E. Moore was to gesture towards his book…
Desert”, “Need”, the Social Theory of the Poor Law Re‐port of 1834, and John Stuart Mill
The Poor Law Report of 1834 occupies an important, perhaps pre‐eminent place in attempts to understand changes in the distribution of power, social relations, and social provision in the nineteenth century. Few other documents have set in progress such a multitide of far‐reaching changes. This is true even though the Poor Law Amendment Act of the same year, very closely related to the Report, diluted considerably its recommendations for policy ‐ …
On the need for a sociology of poverty: Comments on the state of research on poverty in the United Kingdom
Idealist thought, social policy and the rediscovery of informal care
Recent work in the history of welfare has suggested a need to reconsider the status of some conceptual frameworks within sociology and social policy studies regarding the meaning of ‘social welfare’ and the ‘welfare state’. In this context, the present article argues in particular that the marked upswing of interest in informal care in the UK beginning in the 1970s reflected, at least in part, a reaction, itself not so far adequately understood, …
Social Solidarity and Herbert Spencer: Not the Oxymoron That Might Be Assumed
This article attempts to retrieve important aspects of Spencer's sociology from the general neglect and misrepresentation which threatens to overwhelm it all. It does touch in passing on many such highly dubious contentions as that he was a "social Darwinist," but the prime focus is to deal with three linked themes. First, the article examines the significance of his attribution to individuals of "social self-consciousness" as part of sociality, …
A new reading of Spencer on 'society', 'organicism' and 'spontaneous order
Herbert Spencer represented societies as 'social organisms', but he also interpreted social life as a 'spontaneous order'. This new reading of Spencer argues that these positions are not incompatible. The sociological challenge he tackled was how to conceptualise order, pattern and change in the mutually interdependent lives of social individuals as moral beings. Many critics, including Tönnies, Durkheim and Bosanquet, overlooked the subtlety of …
Social Change and Selectionist Thought: On Spencer, Darwin and Runciman
Deep divisions persist within sociology over the potential of a neo-Darwinian selectionist paradigm of explanation to contribute positively to social theory and research. Herbert Spencer's concern with the progressive direction of evolution, and uncertainty about the divergences between Darwinian and Spencerian thought over 'natural selection' and the 'survival of the fittest', often freight preconceptions of the potential of the paradigm. This a…
Free Agent or 'Conscious Automaton'? Contrasting Interpretations of the Individual in Spencer's Writing on Social and Moral Life
Herbert Spencer remains an important and intriguing figure in thinking about political, social and moral matters. At present his writings in relation to idealist thought, social policy, sociology and ethics are undergoing reassessment. This article is concerned with some recent interpretations of Spencer on individuals in social life. It looks in some detail at Spencer's work on psychology and sociology as well as on ethics, seeking to establish …
Bringing it 'Home'? Sociological Practice and the Practice of Sociology
Since Sociology was established in 1967, the journal has assumed a significant role in shaping the discipline. In the interim years it is often said that the very practice of sociology has now 'spun out' beyond the dedicated departments that were once the centres of sociological practice. This raises questions as to the relationship between sociology and other disciplines, questions that are compelling and arguably distinct from a welcome recogni…
From 'natural selection' to 'survival of the fittest: On the significance of Spencer's refashioning of Darwin in the 1860s
This article examines what Spencer meant by his expression 'survival of the fittest' and its status in the explanation of change. It shows how in his Principles of Biology the expression was introduced in connection with his discussion of Darwin's mechanism of species change, 'natural selection', which he wished to incorporate into his all-embracing theory of evolution. The analysis demonstrates through textual examination that the relationship b…
Virtue', 'Citizen Character' and 'Social Environment: Social Theory and Agency in Social Policy since 1830
This article takes a fresh look at the intellectual context of the poor law in Britain and Ireland from the 1830s to the 1930s, and is focused on the different conceptions over time of the 'service user' as agent (drawing on Le Grand) in relation to a fundamental contrast between social theory which is 'non-idealist' and 'idealist' (drawing on Harris). It first examines the ideas of liberal tories, rather than Benthamites, in remodelling the poor…
Spencer's Future of Welfare: A Vision Eclipsed
Spencer's sustained opposition to statutory welfare provisions, based on his theory of social and general evolution, is generally familiar. Much less familiar, however, are his positive arguments, made at various points in his Principles of Sociology, Principles of Ethics and other places, in favour of what he calls 'positive private beneficence' (which today would be called 'informal welfare' or 'informal care'). Unfamiliar also are his analysis…
Spencer's Sociology of Welfare
Idealism Versus Non-Idealism: New Light on Social Policy and Voluntary Action in Britain Since 1880
This paper applies the contrast between idealist and non-idealist modes of thought to an examination and categorization of ideas and practices of voluntary action in Britain in the period from the1880s to the 1990s. In particular, the paper explores: (1) idealism and non-idealism as properties of social theories about voluntary action; (2) idealist and non-idealist social thought in voluntary organizations; (3) pro-state idealist social thought i…
On welfare pluralism, social policy and the contribution of sociology: Revisiting Robert Pinker
On occasion it makes sound sense to undertake a retrospective review of a late colleague's contribution to his or her subject area. This applies to Robert Pinker, Professor of Social Administration at the London School of Economics, who died at the age of 89 in February 2021. Over a long life he made a major impact on working for press freedom and to social work studies, but this article concerns his work on social policy, and particularly on the…
Herbert Spencer, Sociological Theory, and the Professions
This article presents new insights into Spencer's theoretical sociology as he applied it to the professions and professional institutions, which he discussed extensively, particularly in his Principles of Sociology. The first part of this article notes the main conceptual insights which he established and aligns them within the wider context of a re-reading of Spencer's sociology. Particular attention is paid to the "social organism" and the spon…
A Philosophy of Charity and the Debates over the English and Irish Poor Laws in the 1830s
The role of charity as a provider of relief was notably little discussed in the comprehensive English Poor Law Report of 1834. By contrast, however, the debate at the time in Ireland over whether any kind of Poor Law at all was desirable ranged much more broadly, with the respective roles of statutory and voluntary provision hotly contested. In fact, beyond the confines of the English Report itself, the topic of the place of charity in relief was…
Christian Political Economics, Richard Whately and Irish Poor Law Theory
The Irish poor law debate of the 1830s has largely been overlooked, but is a substantial source in understanding the impact of social theory concerning 'virtue' on social policy making in the early nineteenth century and on into the present time. The Chair of the Royal Commission for Inquiring into the Condition of the Poorer Classes in Ireland (1833-36) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Richard Whately, a leading figure in intellec…
Sociological Theory and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge: A Reply to Steve Fuller
Fuller's review essay, 'Is There Life for Sociological Theory after the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge?' (1995), puts theory in the dock and finds it wanting. His treatment of sociological theory suggests, indeed, that the death penalty is warranted. The essay is thus potentially of the utmost importance. But is Fuller's case for the prosecution as good as he thinks it is? I wish to argue that it is not. By 'sociological theory' Fuller means '…
Social Administration and Its Relationship to the Sociology of Welfare
Questions of the form ‘what is “x”?’ raise their heads from time to time, and are often very important. Whether the question is ‘what is virtue?’ or ‘what is sociology?’ the search is on for something fundamental. At least one philosopher seems to have handled that most awkward of ‘what is “x”?’ questions ‘what is philosophy?’ with both humour and wisdom: ‘The story is told that the preferred response of G.E. Moore was to gesture towards his book…
Retrospective Reviews
Dissonance Over Harmony: A Spencer Oddity
Spencer's Sociology of Welfare
Dissonance Over Harmony: A Spencer Oddity
On the need for a sociology of poverty: Comments on the state of research on poverty in the United Kingdom
Retrospective Reviews
Desert”, “Need”, the Social Theory of the Poor Law Re‐port of 1834, and John Stuart Mill
The Poor Law Report of 1834 occupies an important, perhaps pre‐eminent place in attempts to understand changes in the distribution of power, social relations, and social provision in the nineteenth century. Few other documents have set in progress such a multitide of far‐reaching changes. This is true even though the Poor Law Amendment Act of the same year, very closely related to the Report, diluted considerably its recommendations for policy ‐ …
Social Administration and Its Relationship to the Sociology of Welfare
Questions of the form ‘what is “x”?’ raise their heads from time to time, and are often very important. Whether the question is ‘what is virtue?’ or ‘what is sociology?’ the search is on for something fundamental. At least one philosopher seems to have handled that most awkward of ‘what is “x”?’ questions ‘what is philosophy?’ with both humour and wisdom: ‘The story is told that the preferred response of G.E. Moore was to gesture towards his book…
Political Writings: Political Writings
This book places Spencer's famous argument for political individualism in his The Man versus the State alongside his early The Proper Sphere of Government, out of which, after due gestation, emerged not only The Man versus the State but also Social Status and his all-embracing theory of evolution. Both are valuable as unyielding statements of anti-state political theory and as sources of perceptive comments on political events of the times. An in…
Sociological Theory and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge: A Reply to Steve Fuller
Fuller's review essay, 'Is There Life for Sociological Theory after the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge?' (1995), puts theory in the dock and finds it wanting. His treatment of sociological theory suggests, indeed, that the death penalty is warranted. The essay is thus potentially of the utmost importance. But is Fuller's case for the prosecution as good as he thinks it is? I wish to argue that it is not. By 'sociological theory' Fuller means '…
Idealist thought, social policy and the rediscovery of informal care
Recent work in the history of welfare has suggested a need to reconsider the status of some conceptual frameworks within sociology and social policy studies regarding the meaning of ‘social welfare’ and the ‘welfare state’. In this context, the present article argues in particular that the marked upswing of interest in informal care in the UK beginning in the 1970s reflected, at least in part, a reaction, itself not so far adequately understood, …
Spencer's Future of Welfare: A Vision Eclipsed
Spencer's sustained opposition to statutory welfare provisions, based on his theory of social and general evolution, is generally familiar. Much less familiar, however, are his positive arguments, made at various points in his Principles of Sociology, Principles of Ethics and other places, in favour of what he calls 'positive private beneficence' (which today would be called 'informal welfare' or 'informal care'). Unfamiliar also are his analysis…
Idealism Versus Non-Idealism: New Light on Social Policy and Voluntary Action in Britain Since 1880
This paper applies the contrast between idealist and non-idealist modes of thought to an examination and categorization of ideas and practices of voluntary action in Britain in the period from the1880s to the 1990s. In particular, the paper explores: (1) idealism and non-idealism as properties of social theories about voluntary action; (2) idealist and non-idealist social thought in voluntary organizations; (3) pro-state idealist social thought i…
Free Agent or 'Conscious Automaton'? Contrasting Interpretations of the Individual in Spencer's Writing on Social and Moral Life
Herbert Spencer remains an important and intriguing figure in thinking about political, social and moral matters. At present his writings in relation to idealist thought, social policy, sociology and ethics are undergoing reassessment. This article is concerned with some recent interpretations of Spencer on individuals in social life. It looks in some detail at Spencer's work on psychology and sociology as well as on ethics, seeking to establish …
Dead Theorists and Older People: Spencer, Idealist Social Thought and Divergent Prescriptions For Care
The years between 1880 and 1910 saw a great deal of discussion of social policy issues, including the circumstances of elderly people.Whilst considerable attention has been paid to proposals for old-age pensions, little has been said on ideas of care and the social theory which nourished them.This article discusses the views on care of Herbert Spencer, and those expressed in the majority and minority reports of the Royal Commission on the Poor La…
An intellectual history of British social policy: Idealism versus non-idealism
Virtue', 'Citizen Character' and 'Social Environment: Social Theory and Agency in Social Policy since 1830
This article takes a fresh look at the intellectual context of the poor law in Britain and Ireland from the 1830s to the 1930s, and is focused on the different conceptions over time of the 'service user' as agent (drawing on Le Grand) in relation to a fundamental contrast between social theory which is 'non-idealist' and 'idealist' (drawing on Harris). It first examines the ideas of liberal tories, rather than Benthamites, in remodelling the poor…
Social Change and Selectionist Thought: On Spencer, Darwin and Runciman
Deep divisions persist within sociology over the potential of a neo-Darwinian selectionist paradigm of explanation to contribute positively to social theory and research. Herbert Spencer's concern with the progressive direction of evolution, and uncertainty about the divergences between Darwinian and Spencerian thought over 'natural selection' and the 'survival of the fittest', often freight preconceptions of the potential of the paradigm. This a…
The Proper Sphere of Government
Things of the first importance – principles influencing all the transactions of a country – principles involving the weal or woe of nations, are very generally taken for granted by society. When a certain line of conduct, however questionable may be its policy – however momentous may be its good or evil results, has been followed by our ancestors, it usually happens that the great masses of mankind continue the same course of action, without ever…
Robert Pinker, the Idea of Welfare and the Study of Social Policy: On Unitarism and Pluralism
This article reappraises the distinction upon which Robert Pinker has insisted since the 1970s between the heuristic and the normative dimensions of concepts and theories associated with 'welfare' in social policy studies, a distinction prompted by, for instance, the writings of Richard Titmuss. It discusses Pinker's differentiation of forms of study which seek to account for the likenesses and unlikenesses within and between the welfare systems …
From 'natural selection' to 'survival of the fittest: On the significance of Spencer's refashioning of Darwin in the 1860s
This article examines what Spencer meant by his expression 'survival of the fittest' and its status in the explanation of change. It shows how in his Principles of Biology the expression was introduced in connection with his discussion of Darwin's mechanism of species change, 'natural selection', which he wished to incorporate into his all-embracing theory of evolution. The analysis demonstrates through textual examination that the relationship b…
A new reading of Spencer on 'society', 'organicism' and 'spontaneous order
Herbert Spencer represented societies as 'social organisms', but he also interpreted social life as a 'spontaneous order'. This new reading of Spencer argues that these positions are not incompatible. The sociological challenge he tackled was how to conceptualise order, pattern and change in the mutually interdependent lives of social individuals as moral beings. Many critics, including Tönnies, Durkheim and Bosanquet, overlooked the subtlety of …
Christian Political Economics, Richard Whately and Irish Poor Law Theory
The Irish poor law debate of the 1830s has largely been overlooked, but is a substantial source in understanding the impact of social theory concerning 'virtue' on social policy making in the early nineteenth century and on into the present time. The Chair of the Royal Commission for Inquiring into the Condition of the Poorer Classes in Ireland (1833-36) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Richard Whately, a leading figure in intellec…
Bringing it 'Home'? Sociological Practice and the Practice of Sociology
Since Sociology was established in 1967, the journal has assumed a significant role in shaping the discipline. In the interim years it is often said that the very practice of sociology has now 'spun out' beyond the dedicated departments that were once the centres of sociological practice. This raises questions as to the relationship between sociology and other disciplines, questions that are compelling and arguably distinct from a welcome recogni…
Social Policy and Welfare Pluralism: Selected Writings of Robert Pinker
Robert Pinker has written extensively on social policy matters since the early 1960s. His distinct approach to understanding concepts such as welfare pluralism is of particular relevance today as welfare pluralism remains an essential component of the policy mix, giving people access to a greater range and diversity of statutory, voluntary, and private sector services than unitary models of welfare provide. Social Policy and Welfare Pluralism pre…
A Philosophy of Charity and the Debates over the English and Irish Poor Laws in the 1830s
The role of charity as a provider of relief was notably little discussed in the comprehensive English Poor Law Report of 1834. By contrast, however, the debate at the time in Ireland over whether any kind of Poor Law at all was desirable ranged much more broadly, with the respective roles of statutory and voluntary provision hotly contested. In fact, beyond the confines of the English Report itself, the topic of the place of charity in relief was…
Social Solidarity and Herbert Spencer: Not the Oxymoron That Might Be Assumed
This article attempts to retrieve important aspects of Spencer's sociology from the general neglect and misrepresentation which threatens to overwhelm it all. It does touch in passing on many such highly dubious contentions as that he was a "social Darwinist," but the prime focus is to deal with three linked themes. First, the article examines the significance of his attribution to individuals of "social self-consciousness" as part of sociality, …
Sociology (27 works) · Law (19 works) · Epistemology (18 works) · Philosophy (17 works) · Political science (17 works) · Social science (14 works) · Politics (11 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (11 works) · Law (8 works) · Philosophy (8 works)