Poverty in World History

A genuinely global survey of world poverty from 1500 to the present day, Poverty in World History focuses upon the period from around 1500 onwards when poverty became a global issue, and uses the process of globalization as the chief lens through which to study and understand poverty in world history.

The result is both a tying together of significant strands of world history, and an examination of changing attitudes towards poverty and poor relief throughout the world. This wide ranging study underscores a major consequence of increased cultural and economic interaction among the world's societies, highlighting the similarities and differences in impacts and responses to the resulting 'smaller' globe. Topics include:

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• innovations in early modern poor relief
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• the causes of trends towards a globalization of poverty after 1500
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• poor relief since 1945 to the present
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• poverty, morality and the state.