Abstract:

The explanatory power of the cyclical theory of social relief advanced by Frances Fox Piven & R. A. Cloward (Regulating the Poor, New York: Vintage, 1972) is assessed through an exploration of policies in England from the twelfth through the nineteenth centuries. While there is evidence of a cyclical trend between restrictive & liberal policies in this period, these shifts cannot consistently be explained by social turmoil. There is also evidence of a long-term trend toward a more restrictive aging policy, which cyclical theory does not account for. This trend can be better explained by a more basic set of ideas underlying cyclical theory: the needs of a capitalist economic system.