1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910806940503321

Autore

Ruswick Brent

Titolo

Almost worthy : the poor, paupers, and the science of charity in America, 1877-1917 / / Brent Ruswick

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Bloomington, : Indiana University Press, c2013

ISBN

1-283-85151-2

0-253-00638-4

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (284 p.)

Collana

Philanthropic and nonprofit studies

Disciplina

362.5/57632097309034

Soggetti

Poor - Services for - United States - History

Charities - United States - History

Nature and nurture - United States - History

Poverty - United States - History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: Big Moll and the science of scientific charity -- "Armies of vice": evolution, heredity, and the pauper menace -- Friendly visitors or scientific investigators? Befriending and measuring the poor -- Opposition, depression, and the rejection of pauperism -- "I see no terrible army": environmental reform and radicalism in the scientific charity movement -- The potentially normal poor: professional social work, psychology, and the end of scientific charity.

Sommario/riassunto

In the 1880's, social reform leaders warned that the ""unworthy"" poor were taking charitable relief intended for the truly deserving. Armed with statistics and confused notions of evolution, these ""scientific charity"" reformers founded organizations intent on limiting access to relief by the most morally, biologically, and economically unfit. Brent Ruswick examines a prominent national organization for scientific social reform and poor relief in Indianapolis in order to understand how these new theories of poverty gave birth to new programs to assist the poor.