History A-Level
Laissez-faire and self-reliance
What Laissez-faire and self-reliance means in History A-Level, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.
Definition of Laissez-faire and self-reliance
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Laissez-faire and self-reliance in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: Pearson Edexcel
The prevailing orthodoxy that individual character, not state intervention, was the solution to poverty, reinforced by Smiles' 'Self-Help'.
Topics that use Laissez-faire and self-reliance
- Paper 3, Option 34.2: Poverty, public health and the state in Britain, c1780–1939 - 3 The government, self-help and charity, 1847–80 (Pearson Edexcel A-Level)
Related terms
- Andover workhouse scandal
- Literature as social commentary
- Local Government Board
- Moral vs economic causes of poverty
- Parliamentary Reform Act 1867
- Poor Law Board
- Social investigation and journalism
Using Laissez-faire and self-reliance in the exam
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