"Many Victorians struggled to understand and explain poverty. Was this because of circumstances beyond the individual's control or the direct result of their indolence? To discourage dependency, workhouse conditions were worse than the lowest standard of the independent labourer."
And that was a hundred or so years ago, oh how we've progressed!
The above was found at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/welfare/bsurface_01.shtml
Some "interesting" reading to be found.
PS. It gets even nearer to the mark on page two!
Get this:
"At the beginning of the 19th century poverty was regarded as the natural condition of the labouring poor - those who worked with their hands. The fluctuations of harvests, the disruptions of war and the fine line between subsistence and penury were seen as inevitable and difficult to change."
