Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree
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Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree often known simply as Seebohm Rowntee (7 July 1871 - 7 October 1954) was a British sociological researcher, social reformer and industrialist.
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[edit] Early life
He was the third child of Quaker chocolate manufacturer Joseph Rowntree and Emma Seebohm. He was educated at the York Quaker Boarding School and Owen College, Manchester. Seebohm's religion impacted on his business practices, he and his father Jospeh Rowntree implemented wage increases for the 4,000 workers which their company employed. Rowntree beleived that the existance of companies which paid low wages was bad for the "nation's economy and humanity". [1]. In 1897 Rowntree was appointed as a director of his father's successful business in York. On Sundays he taught at York Adult School[2].
[edit] Rowntree's first York study (1899)
Rowntree investigated poverty in York, inspired by the woork of his father Joseph Rowntree and the work of Charles Booth, Poverty, A Study of Town Life was published in 1901.
In Rowntree's work he surveyed poor families in York and drew a poverty line in terms of a minimum weekly sum of money ‘necessary to enable families... to secure the necessaries of a healthy life’ (quoted in Coates and Silburn, 1970). The money needed for this subsistence level of existence covered fuel, and light, rent, food, clothing, household and personal items, and was adjusted according to family size. According to this measure, 33 per cent of the survey population lived in poverty. To live below this poverty line was to live in primary poverty - unable to obtain the basic necessities of life. To live above the line was to live in secondary poverty - living on the edge of poverty but able to obtain the necessities of life.
Rowntree's arguement that poverty was the result of low went against the traditiionally held view view that the poor were responsibble for their own plight[3].
[edit] Impact on the Liberal reforms
Rowntree was a supporter of the Liberal Party and hoped that his work would influence Liberal politicians. Rowntree became close friends with David Lloyd George in 1907 after the two men met when Lloyd George was serving as President of the Board of Trade[4]. The influence of Rowntree can be seen in the Liberal reforms passed by the Liberals when in power.
[edit] Further writings
David Lloyd George made Rowntree write on rural living conditions in Britain, The Land (1913) and How the Labourer Lives (1913) looked at the living conditions of farming families, Rowntree arguied that an increase in landholdings would make agriculture more productive.
His work The Human Needs of Labour argued for family allowances and a national minimum wage and in The Human Factor in Business Rowntree argued that businessowners should adopt more democratic paractices like those at his own factory rather than more autocratic leadership styles.
[edit] Second York study (1936)
Rowntree conducted a further study of poverty in York in 1936 under the title Progress and Poverty. This was based largely on a similar research method as his earlier study. He aruged that York had experienced a 50% reduction in poverty, and that the reasons for povferty existing had changed in the 1890s it was low wages whereas in the 1930s it was now unemployment. This survey impacted on the post-war Labour Government[5].
However, in the later studies he included allowances for some items which were not strictly necessary for survival. These included newspapers, books, radios, beer, tobacco, holidays and presents. Despite the inclusion of the extra items, he found that the percentage of his sample population in poverty had dropped to 18 per cent in 1936 and 1.5 per cent in 1950. He also found that the causes of poverty had changed considerably over half a century. For example, inadequate wages, a major factor in 1899 and 1936, were relatively insignificant by 1950.
[edit] Third York study (1951)
Rowntree published a third study of York's poverty in 1951 under the title Poverty and the Welfare State. By the 1950s it appeared that poverty was a minor problem. ‘Pockets’ remained (for example, among the elderly), but it was believed that increased welfare benefits would soon eradicate this lingering poverty. The conquest of poverty was put down to an expanding economy (the 1950s were the years of the 'affluent society'), to government policies of full employment and to the success of the welfare state. It was widely believed that the operation of the welfare state had redistributed wealth from rich to poor and significantly raised working- class living standards.
[edit] Criticism of his work
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s researchers became increasingly dubious about the ‘conquest of poverty’. Rowntree’s concept of subsistence poverty, and the indicators he used to measure poverty, was strongly criticised. His measurement of adequate nutrition is a case in point. With the help of experts, Rowntree drew up a diet sheet that would provide the minimum adequate money required for food. It was very unlikely, however, that this minimum budget would meet the needs of the poor. As Martin Rein argues, it was based on: an unrealistic assumption of no waste, and extensive knowledge in marketing and cooking. An economical budget must be based on knowledge and skill which is least likely to be present in low-income groups. (Rein, 1970)
Rowntree’s estimates further ignored the fact that most of their income on food than his budget allowed. Nor did he allow for the fact that choice of food is based on the conventions of a person’s social class and region, not upon a diet sheet drawn up by experts. Thus Peter Townsend argues that in relation to the budgets and customs of life of ordinary people, the make-up of the subsistence budget was unbalanced.
[edit] Death
Rowntree died on 7th October 1954.
[edit] Bibliography
- Poverty, A Study of Town Life (1901)
- The Land (1913)
- How the Labourer Lives (1913)
- The Human Needs of Labour (1918)
- The Human Factor in Business (1921)
- Progress and Poverty (1941)
- Poverty and the Welfare State (1951)
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RErowntreeS.htm
- ^ http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RErowntreeS.htm
- ^ http://www.jrf.org.uk/centenary/poverty.html
- ^ http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RErowntreeS.htm
- ^ http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RErowntreeS.htm
[edit] External links
[edit] See also
| Works by Seebohm Rowntree |
|---|
| Poverty, A Study of Town Life | The Land | How the Labourer Lives | The Human Needs of Labour | The Human Factor in Business | Progress and Poverty | Poverty and the Welfare State | |
