ABSTRACT
In less than 100 years, we have moved away from a society in which gross inequalities in opportunity and ‘the grinding of the faces of the masses’ were acceptable principles to a society in which every individual counts and is at least entitled to the chance of raising his living standards. Exploitation of human labour, all too common in the early years of the first great industrial revolution, which was at the root of so much inequality of opportunity in the past has gradually been removed and to a considerable degree the means of eliminating the inhumanity of the few towards the many has been the development of social and economic policies designed to raise the living standards of the majority of the members of the population. The forces and movements which were responsible for the initiation and implementation of these new policies need not concern us, but if we are to understand the changed attitude towards and the methods of dealing with social problems then we must recognize the principal measures of social action which have contributed to the growth and development of the so-called ‘Welfare State’. 1
