The Paupers. Between Assistance and Repression. The other Lisbon in the 1st Third of the Century

Work that narrates the historical course of assistance in the municipality of Lisbon throughout the first third of the 20th century. Maria de Fátima Pinto makes known to the general public “who the indigents of Lisbon were and how they survived” in this particular period of history crossed by three political regimes - the monarchy, the 1st republic and the beginnings of the Estado Novo -, a period dominated by the doctrine of progress, guided by the valorization of work and the rejection of idleness as a way of life”. Starting from the analysis of the social frameworks of assistance and repression, revealing different perspectives on the phenomenon of poverty, the author traces a characterization of indigents in the early 20th century, reports the evolution of assistance in Portugal, as well as its main institutions and consequent forms of assistance, without forgetting the description of the beggar's relationship with the law, oscillating between the poles of regeneration and marginality. An edition carried out with the support of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa.

Author: Maria de Fátima Pinto

Year of publication: 1999
Publisher: Horizonte Books
ISBN: 972241044