Larry Frohman . Poor Relief and Welfare in Germany from the Reformation to World War I . New York : Cambridge University Press . 2008 . Pp. x, 257. $85.00.

Abstract

In his multifaceted history of poor relief and social policy, Larry Frohman includes large sections of Central and Western Europe in his discussion of the early modern period and focuses on the territory of the German Empire for the period after 1871. Almost two-thirds of the book and most references to archival sources are devoted to an analysis of social policies during the empire. According to Frohman, the concept of “social discipline” as used in the literature to explain motivations for poor relief and charity has been so widespread that poor relief has often been regarded as a mechanism for marginalizing the poor. He rightly considers as one-sided the strong emphasis on the disciplinary and repressive character of welfare and poor relief and consequently questions the equation of assistance to the poor with discipline, marginalization, and exclusion. Frohman holds that the deserving local poor were treated with greater care than vagrants and indigent foreigners. Assistance to the poor thus had as much to do with social integration, community, and citizenship as it did with discipline and marginalization. Therefore, he argues, the concept of “social control” is more apt, since it evinces greater concern for the preservation of the community than does the social discipline paradigm. Frohman holds that social integration and social exclusion were two sides of the same coin, as were assistance and discipline.