Poverty and social theory in England: the experience of the eighteen-eighties.

The article examines the relations between continuity and innovation in the social thought of the 1880's as it relates to poverty in England. It evaluates 1880's as a watershed in the history of English social theory by examining the two publications entitled "Life and Labour of the People of London," by Charles Booth and "Final Report" of the Select Committee of the House of Lords of the Sweating System in 1980. Under the study, the relationship of Booth's view about society and nature of social progress in 1880's and 1890's was analyzed.