From Reformation to Improvement: Public Welfare in Early Modern England

Between the early sixteenth and the early eighteenth centuries, the character of English social policy and social welfare changed fundamentally. Aspirations for wholesale reformation were replaced by more specific schemes for improvement. Paul Slack's analysis of this decisive shift of focus, derived from his 1995 Ford Lectures, examines its intellectual and political roots. He describes the policies and rhetoric of the commonwealthsmen, godly magistrates, Stuart monarchs, Interregnum projectors, and early Hanoverian philanthropists, and the institutions -- notably hospitals and workhouses - which they created or reformed. In a series of thematic chapters, each linked to a chronological period, he brings together what might seem to have been disparate notions and activities, and shows that they expressed a sequence of coherent approaches towards public welfare. The result is a strikingly original study, which throws fresh light on the formation of civic consciousness and the emergence of a civil society in early modern England.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1: The Common Weal 2: Godly Cities 3: Absolute Power 4: The Public Good 5: The Parliament's Reformation 6: Bodies Politic 7: Civil Societies Index

About the Author :
Paul Slack is Principal of Linacre College, Oxford.

Review :
`offers advanced students and specialists in the field a concentrated survey of scholarship on the subject, set within a penetrating analysis of the way both the provision and the language of social welfare developed from the late fifteenth through the mid-eighteenth centuries.' Journal of Modern History `In its careful use of terms, its complex explanation of events and its broad grasp of concepts, From Reformation to Improvement stands as an exemplary exercise in the intellectual, social, and political history of early modern welfare.' Sixteenth Century Journal, XXXII/2 `By public welfare, Slack understands not only the broad range of public action for the public good but also the changing content of its meanings, means, and ends. It is precisely this syntactical care that distinguishes this collection.' Sixteenth Century Journal, XXXII/2 `impressive for its depth of research and for its ability to provoke thought ... From Reformation to Improvement makes significant contributions to our understanding of early modern social policies ... Slack is particularly adept at relating English social policies to developments on the continent ... His mastery of the primary sources is impressive, allowing him to flesh out as no one has previously done the connections between the authors of pamphlets and sermons and those in authority at local and national levels ... an outstanding piece of socal history ... should be required reading for anyone who thinks institutions of public welfare were once-and-for-all creations of the twentieth century.' Lee Beier, Urban History, Vol.28/1, 2001 `this important, scholarly, and subtle book.' David Harris Sacks, Renaissance Quarterly. `a rich study of the history of "civic consciousness," a deeply informed account of the governmental institutions and "agents who translated concepts into activity," and an illuminating treatment of "the practical consequences" for the provision of "manifold public servivces for the welfare of ... citizens" ... contributes to the growing body of scholarship on the history of state-building in early modern Britain and Europe.' David Harris Sacks, Renaissance Quarterly. `From Reformation to Improvement is as thought-provoking for what it suggests about recent political debates about the role of the state, the nature of public good, the reform of social mores, and the amelioration of want and suffering as for what it says about the past. It deserves the attention of all readers interested in the sometimes-noble history of efforts to reform and improve the human condition.' David Harris Sacks, Renaissance Quarterly.