The historiography of the political and intellectual origins of the Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services – or Beveridge Report, named after William Beveridge, the Chairman of the Commission- was chiefly displayed in the document itself. Published in 1942 and highly edited, the white paper inherently exposed a political and intellectual review of British social security.
The political evolution of the schemes of social insurance and assistance –including the Beveridge Report- was mainly presented as a response to practical political and community problems which synthesis was the Welfare State originated in the Beveridge Report: a universal and comprehensive State insurance of social assistance. However, the intentions behind social legislations were discussed; historians such as Bruce Maurice (1968) and Derek Fraser (2003) disagreed on the causes of evolution. Maurice pointed that the Welfare State had grown out of the needs of the English people and out of the struggle for social justice whereas Fraser advanced an erratic and pragmatic response to practical individual and community problems of an industrial society.
Regarding the intellectual evolution of the social policy, it appeared that political and economical problems catalyzed social changes firstly originated by intellectuals and next supported by politicians and the community influenced by intellectuals' publications. Jose Harris (May, 1992) and John Offer (2006) presented the intellectual framework of social policy as previous to political and popular frameworks. Social-reform literature of the 18th century was moralist and utilitarianist (Smith, 1759; Bentham, 1789), and the New Poor Law set up in 1834 resulted from and in the intellectual trends.
[...] From 1945, measures recommended in the Report were implemented in the Welfare State; yet what were the political and intellectual issues of the Beveridge Report regarding the evolution of social policy? Bibliography Primary sources General Abrams, Mark. The Condition of the British People 1911-1945 : A Study Prepared for the Fabian Society. London: Victor Gollancz Bosanquet, Helen. Poor Law Report of 1909 : Summary Expl. Defects of Present System and Recommendations of the Comm. Macmillan Cole, G.D.H. Great Britain in the Post-War World. [...]
[...] London : HarperCollins Beveridge and the Beveridge Report Beveridge, (Lady) Janet. Beveridge and his Plan. London: Hodder & Stoughton Capet, Antoine. «Plan Beveridge ou plan Churchill ? Consensus et dissensus sur la Reconstruction.» Revue française de civilisation britannique, Vol.9, No.1, October 1996: 107-126. Clarke, Joan S. (Ed.). Beveridge on Beveridge: Recent speeches of Sir William Beveridge. London: Social Security League Cole, G.D.H. Beveridge Explained. What the Beveridge Report on Social Security means. London: New Statesman & Nation Harris, Jose. William Beveridge: A Biography. [...]
[...] In parallel, the increasing influence of Socialism within organizations of labor and intellectual groups was considered by the Conservative and the Liberal parties as a threat to the existing political order. Thus, a renewal in politics was also required and a socialistic trend appeared as the means to neutralize or at least delay potential political turmoil. The New Liberals aided the Liberal party to regain its influence among the electorate which decreased since the 1880s. The political acknowledgement of Liberal Socialism and its practical introduction in the Liberal party agenda resulted in the large victory of the Liberal Party in the 1906 general election and the enactment of the “Liberal reforms” between 1906 and 1914. [...]
[...] The Beveridge Report clearly displayed a biased historiography of its political and intellectual origins. The review of political origins, titled survey of the existing schemes and allied services” paralleled the review of the intellectual origins it fit in, the part titled “recommendations”. Indeed, the Report proposed extensions of previous social legislations, mostly passed in the first half of the 20th century, influenced by social reformist groups: the New Liberals and the Fabian Society. No mention was made of the policies and ideologies it stood against. [...]
[...] Indeed, the introduction of that social legislation by the Conservative Chancellor Bismarck was not only supposed to improve industrial workers' condition and so productivity but also and more specifically to direct workers' political support to the government. Those measures and programs, taken from the Social Democrat agenda, aimed at lessening the influence of left-wing parties on the working population by establishing their own policies lightened of their socialist aspects: they did not concern the improvement of the working conditions or an increase of wages. [...]
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