Previous Year Question
‘Poverty is regarded as a social problem’ which was the outcome of a survey research on poverty in London. Who was the Scholar of this research?
Charles Booth
Henary George
Kingsley Davis
Sir Henary Maine
Correct Answer: A
Detailed Solution
Charles Booth was an English social researcher and social reformer who conducted an extensive empirical survey of poverty and working-class life in London during the late nineteenth century.
His famous Inquiry into the Life and Labour of the People in London was conducted broadly between 1886 and 1903. The results of this massive investigation were subsequently published as Life and Labour of the People in London.
An important feature of Booth's research was that instead of treating poverty merely as a result of individual laziness or moral weakness, he used empirical data to examine it as a broader social problem linked with income, employment, housing and social conditions.
Among the best-known products of his research were the Maps Descriptive of London Poverty. These maps classified the streets of London in different colours according to the income and social class of their inhabitants.
Booth's work is important in the development of modern empirical social research because it systematically employed survey data, field investigation, classification and mapping.
Among the other options—
Henry George → associated with Progress and Poverty and land/economic reform
Kingsley Davis → known for population and demographic studies
Sir Henry Maine → known for comparative studies of law and social institutions