The Political Economy of the Street and its Discontents

Abstract

ABSTRACTAt mid-century, British journalists and reformers warned that beggars menaced the country's economic and political health, and nowhere more so than in the streets of London. At first glance, the cultural and institutional history of the period yields the impression that British society had ceased to view mendicants as legitimate objects of charity. Yet, an examination of other sources from Victorian London demonstrates that many Britons continued to tolerate, support or even protect beggars. Such actions demonstrate the continued power of appeals to the emotions and older traditions of charity despite the country's transition to an urban-industrial society informed by the doctrines of classical political economy.