P enelope I smay . Trust among Strangers

Penelope Ismay’s Trust among Strangers: Friendly Societies in Modern Britain might seem to be about the narrow subject of friendly societies: the associations that brought working men—for the most part—together to socialize, drink, and contribute their dues. In return, the societies would pay them a weekly benefit in times of sickness. In fact, Ismay explores much bigger questions about collective responsibility and insurance both on the local and national level and how friendly societies played into debates about the New Poor Law of 1834 and the National Insurance Act of 1911. Based on extensive research, this excellent book links fine-grained social history with astute and original analysis of social thought. During the eighteenth century, thinkers such as Daniel Defoe began to conceive how the mutual benefit and reciprocity of friendly societies, especially those with upper-class involvement of patronage, could serve as a model for solving the problem of poverty. By...

Political economy · Political science · Poverty · Reciprocity (cultural anthropology) · Social science · Sociology · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies