Crisis of moral authority: the Ladies Benevolent Societies in the Victorian Welfare Field 1820-1839

Abstract

The central concern of this thesis is with the decline in authority of the Ladies Benevolent Societies in the welfare field in Victoria in the 1920s and 1930s. The authority of the Societies drew heavily on a form of cultural capital that was highly regarded and valued in a late nineteenth and early twentieth century state of capitalism. The focus of this thesis is on the interaction between that established authority, as it was practised in the field of charity and benevolence, and the changing nature of the welfare field in the 1920s and 1930s, framed more around the emerging professionalism of social work and the ethics of social citizenship. Importantly, women did not lose their authority in the welfare field in this transition. Middle class women continued to hold a position of authority within the changing field of welfare as agents, providers and 'experts'. Yet the Ladies Benevolent Societies were increasingly marginalised in the shift from moral to professional authority. Previous studies of this process of marginalisation have employed concepts of 'maternalism' and 'collective identity' to account for the 'failure' of the Benevolent Societies. In seeking a more active account of this transference of authority, I have adapted the sociological concept of 'habitus' to develop an understanding of the part resistant, part adaptive nature of the Ladies Benevolent Societies between the wars as it related to their practice of welfare and their moral authority. I argue that the habitus of the Societies was a combination of their class, gender and religious persuasion, reflecting a specific historical moment and within a specific historical context. The value of the cultural capital the Societies possessed, in the form of welfare practices based on individual moral reform, declined in value as the welfare field underwent a transition towards 'modernity'. This in tum resulted in a decline in their social capital. While the Societies made efforts to maintain their authority, their habitus prevented them from fully embracing modem practices of welfare even though some aspects of their practices-in the areas of class and gender, and a moral ethos-continued in influence, or at least remained residual themes into the rise of the 'welfare state' and beyond. This thesis is based on a close reading of the minutes and case records of the Benevolent Societies, and seeks to understand their work in its context and resilience. Show more