Full Description
For many, the history of German social policy is defined primarily by that nation's postwar emergence as a model of the European welfare state. As this comprehensive volume demonstrates, however, the question of how to care for the poor has had significant implications for German history throughout the modern era. Here, eight leading historians provide essential case studies and syntheses of current research into German welfare, from the Holy Roman Empire to the present day. Along the way, they trace the parallel historical dynamics that have continued to shape German society, including religious diversity, political exclusion and inclusion, and concepts of race and gender.
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Poverty and Welfare in Modern German History: Recent Trends and New Perspectives in Current Research
Lutz Raphael
Chapter 1. The Economy of Love: Welfare and Poor Relief in Catholic Territories of the Holy Roman Empire (1500 to 1800)
Sebastian Schmidt
Chapter 2. German Pauper Letters and Petitions for Relief: New Perspectives on Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Poor Relief
Andreas Gestrich
Chapter 3. Vagabonds in the German Empire: Mobility, Unemployment, and the Transformation of Social Policies (1870-1914)
Beate Althammer
Chapter 4. The Welfare State and Poverty in the Weimar Republic
Wilfried Rudloff
Chapter 5. Welfare, Mobilization, and the Nazi Society
Nicole Kramer
Chapter 6. Who Cares?: Gender, Poverty and Welfare in West Germany
Christiane Kuller
Chapter 7. A "New Social Question"?: Politics, Social Sciences and the Rediscovery of Poverty in Post-Boom Western Germany
Winfried Süß
Chapter 8. The New Poverty: Trends and Debates in Contemporary Germany
Olaf Groh-Samberg
