User:JeffTK/Scientific Charity Movement (Draft)

The Scientific Charity Movement was a social movement starting in the 1870s that applied the theories of Social Darwinism to charity. They believed they needed to "check the curse of indiscriminate alms-giving" and that the role of wise charity was to "supplement the degree of unfitness of each applicant." They built Charity Organization Societies that would send "volunteer visitors" to assess applicants to figure out why they were poor and determine how deserving they were of assistance.

Scratch Work
A Handbook of Charity Organization
 * Rev S Humphreyes Gurteen, 1882, https://books.google.com/books?id=1WV2Qz8edWUC


 * p11: "the wisest municipal systems [of poverty alleviation] are only aggravating the evil"
 * p11: people voluntarily getting together to "check the curse of indiscriminate alms-giving, by the diffusion of sound, practical views and the adoption of wise, discriminating action."
 * p11: as groups of people have gotten larger, we're no longer able to tell who is deserving, and donors can be exploited


 * p12: Gurteen gives Frederick Ozanam as a founder (1830)
 * p13 Ozanam and friends founded the Society of St Vincent de Paul
 * p13 SvdP in catholic countries


 * p14: rules
 * help people regardless of religion or areligion,
 * even if no money or goods, can give time, experience, advice
 * giving money often doesn't work out well, instead help them get a job so they can have independence and self-respect


 * p16 Charity Organization Society
 * established london 1869
 * cooperation to achieve a cure for poverty, not alleviation of distress


 * ch10, p196- : The Scientific Basis of Charity Organization
 * p198: The scientific origin of poverty is that we have banded together to keep the less fit from starving. Without cooperation and assistance there would be no poverty
 * p199: We have beggars because we go too far in trying to help the less fit
 * p199: Prevent pauperism by keeping people from shirking
 * p200: By organizing all distribution of assistance in a city we can make sure people get the right amount, and not too much
 * p202: Division of labor means even people with some disabilities can still work in other ways
 * p202-203: some groups of people are deserving and should be helped, others are not and should not be