Works on Economics & social welfare
5 total works
The articles bound together in this volume all address the issue of poor relief and its reform. The "Tracts on Pauperism" were published as a reprint of articles originally published in the "Edinburgh Review" in 1817 and 1818. The two remaining pamphlets relate to the debate about the future of poor relief in Scotland. Chalmers publication "On the Sufficiency of a Parochial System" reasserts his belief in a voluntary system of dealing with pauperism, which he championed in theory and in practice for so long. Alison considered Chalmers' belief in responsible communities to be Utopian and pushed in his publication for a system of assessment-based relief.
On Political Economy, in Connection with the Moral State and Moral Prospects of Society
by Thomas Chalmers
Published 1 March 1999
The first of three pamphlets bound together in one volume, "Political Economy" centres on the worsening conditions of the working-class population. It is based on the lectures on political economy which Chlamers had given at Edinburgh University in 1830-31. McCulloch's review, the second article, challenges Chalmer's viewpoints, particularly questioning his continuing commitment to the Malthusian perspective. The third piece in the volume, Chalmers' reply, contains condemnation of industrialization which he saw as threatening traditiobal institutions and entailing significant costs to individuals.
This three-volume work was originally published from September 1819 as a series of quarterly publications. It represents the major statement of Chalmers' socio-economic communitarianism and is perhaps the most influential work of his career. In it he emphasizes providing the spiritual, moral and material elevation of the labouring poor of industrializing cities.
An Enquiry Into the Extent and Stability of National Resources
by Thomas Chalmers
Published 15 March 1999
Chalmers' first major work is the culmination of his early social thinking. It reflects both his experiences in rural Fife and the beginnings of his quest for the identity of a national community. The book challenges the mercantilist notion that foreign commerce was essential to the survival of the nation. Chalmers' argument is full of Malthusian fears of over-population.
Alongside other posthumous writings Dr. Chalmers and the Poor Laws was edited by officials of the Charity Organisation Society, established in 1869. The Society was influenced by Chalmers' principles in its practice of discriminating charity and individual casework. Problems of Poverty was edited by Henry Hunter who had been President of the Society of Poor Law officials in Scotland. These works were published at a time when there was renewed interest in the respective responsibilities for welfare of State and citizen.