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Outline Malthus’s Theory of Population and Access His Contribution to the Reform of the Poor Laws in 1834.

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Thomas Robert Malthus is widely regarded as the worlds first professional political economist. He was born on 13th February 1766 to a wealthy English family and after being educated by his father at home, he went on to study Mathematics at Jesus College, Cambridge and become the most well known social scientist of the Nineteenth century. Through his life, Malthus wrote many books and essays and his writings can be split into two periods. In the first period his writings dealt with the unrest of labour and attempts to restructure society to promote the welfare of the worker. In the second period from 1814 onwards, his writings dealt more with the corn laws and the problems between the landlords and capitalists. This essay will explain …show more content…

It was felt that there should be a national system of workhouses, with uniform rules and regulations and a central authority in control. This would mean that there would be no advantage to the person in moving from parish to parish. The commission adopted a principle of ‘Less Eligibility” which meant that the conditions of the workhouses should be worse than the conditions of the poorest ‘free’ labourer. The commission also recommended ‘The Workhouse Test’ which meant that outdoor relief, which was payment made to people living in their own homes would be abolished and that relief would only be available in the workhouses,. It was felt that the reformed workhouses should be so uninviting that you would only want to be in one if you could not cope with living in the outside world. Finally, it was felt that the workhouses should not be mixed, but instead there should be separate provisions for men and women. The Poor Law Amendment Act was implemented in 1834 yet it was felt that not all of the changes should be implemented straight away. The banning of outdoor relief began only in the parishes were it was felt implementation would be easiest and was not completely banned until 1840. Malthus felt that the old Poor Law was counter-productive, demoralising and was actually causing more of a problem than it was trying to alleviate by undermining the individuals incentive to work. He felt that the Poor Laws helped to continue to grow society without

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