In his section about A Christmas Carol, (starting p. 220) Nissenbaum concludes that there are many points to take from A Christmas Carol. That may be why it is a “classic,” but also means that it can be used by either side of the political spectrum. This is culture influencing politics, but in this case in whatever direction your beliefs lead you to. I think that’s true of the Bible as well, in that respect. He also points out that in the end, Scrooge makes distinctions about giving at Christmas that still hold today. For family and close friends, gifts or “presents” are given directly and often face to face. For people like Cratchit, they are given by a messenger: these are people not close, but known. For the teeming poor though, gifts are not presents, but charity, as Scrooge, at the end, gives a donation to the “gentlemen” who he had denied in the beginning.
In the next section, “On the Evils of Indiscriminate Giving” pages 226-231, it’s shown that in the mid-Nineteenth Century, that distinction was applied to helping the poor in general. Newspapers and middle class opinion held that it was better to give to charitable organizations than to the poor directly. Beggars were decried in the press. How much of this is because of the violence and intimidation of the earlier wassailers and Belsnickles? Or aggressive begging? How much is it because of Dickens? Or Marx? Probably some of all of those things, but in any case, capitalism had taken hold by the mid 18th century, with the economic ups and downs that came with it, so at times there were many more poor people to help. Individual giving would have, in the opinion of many, been a fools’ errand. Hull House (which kept coming up in a class I took on the history of social work) didn’t open until 1889, but it seems these organizations became common much earlier. The same who preached that charitable organizations should be the means of helping the poor over individual giving, of course also opposed government help. An employer pays a worker and then encourages the worker to give to charity, but if the government is involved, the employer (i.e. capitalist) must pay his worker and pay increased taxes. By encouraging private charitable organizations, the richest move the burden of the poor to the middle class. Hmm.
Also of note: re #labor. “Mechanics and working man’s aid organization” formed by unemployed men in NYC in 1854. Pg 229.
That’s all for now. Happy New Year!
If you enjoyed this post, and would like to support my goal to go to graduate school, please hit the button below to buy me a coffee! All donations, large and small, are very much appreciated!
You can also support my goals, and my education, by buying from my Kindle Wish List! Thanks again!