New book release and exhibition – Social Progress in Britain, Anthony F. Heath

‘Social Progress in Britain’ is a new publication written by Anthony F. Heath, the Director of the Centre for Social Investigation (CSI) at Nuffield College, with contributions from Elisabeth Garratt, Ridhi Kashyap, Yaojun Li, and Lindsay Richards.

Released on Thursday 27th October 2018

 

Taken from CSI briefing papers tracing social change in Britain since Sir William Beveridge’s 1942 report on Social Insurance and Allied Services, this book investigates the progress made by Britain to address ‘Beveridge’s Five Giants’;

Want ; Disease ; Ignorance ; Squalor ; Idleness.

LIBRARY EXHIBITION

The library is currently displaying a small exhibition about ‘Social Progress in Britain’, William Beveridge and Beveridge’s Five Giants. The exhibition can be found at the library entrance and includes locations for texts by and about Beveridge in the library, and the chance to pick up a promotional code for 30% off the OUP RRP!

 

SIR WILLIAM BEVERIDGE (1879-1963)

William Beveridge (c) National Portrait Gallery, London

Born in 1879, Beveridge was a pioneer in social reform. Beveridge was an exhibitioner at Balliol College in 1897 where he graduated with first-class honours in mathematical moderations (1898), classical moderations (1899), and literae humaniores (1901). He later gained a fellowship at University College in 1902 and successfully became the Warden of University College in 1937. In the intervening years, Beveridge became a civil servant, reaching the rank of Assistant Secretary before the First World War broke out. In 1919, Beveridge resigned from the civil service and became the director of LSE, then a small college, expanding the reach of the social sciences at LSE. [3]

His impact within government and academia was widespread, paving the way for his most famous work and a legacy that still survives and thrives today.

SOCIAL INSURANCE AND ALLIED SERVICES 

His defining work Social Insurance and Allied Services, also known as the Beveridge Report, informed the structure of the welfare state in Britain after the Second World War.

Beveridge’s idea was to “provide as far as possible a unified system of income maintenance to cover needs arising from a variety of causes” [1]

Beveridge’s programme for overcoming his ‘five giants’ were in the form of a free NHS, family allowances, governmental backed full employment policies and universal subsistence social insurance for all classes, for life. Beveridge’s plan paid off as his report became the backbone of the British welfare state legislation between 1944 and 1948. Although the government were not particularly enamoured with his report initially, the public were and helped to sell over 70,000 copies in just a few days! [3]

BEVERIDGE’S FIVE GIANTS

WANT

“material progress, particularly with respect to household income” [2]

The reduction of Want in a society influences the four other ‘giants’ highlighted by Beveridge as the means to provide social security. Want can be eliminated when the basic needs of society is met economically.

Chapter 2 ‘The Fight against Want – material prosperity, inequality, and poverty’ addresses the changes made in Britain to reduce Want and examines the possibility of a resurgence of Want in the 21st century.

DISEASE

“health and life expectancy” [2]

Chapter 3 ‘The Fight against Disease – life expectancy, disease, and lifestyle’ addresses the changes made in Britain to increase life expectancy and examines the necessary changes to lifestyle needed for a healthier Britain.

IGNORANCE

“educational participation and standards” [2]

Chapter 4 ‘The Fight against Ignorance – participation, standards, and non-economic outcomes’ addresses the changing standards of ignorance in the 21st century and examines the development of Britain’s education system.

SQUALOR

“housing conditions, especially overcrowding” [2]

Chapter 5 ‘The Fight against Squalor – overcrowding, homelessness, and affordability’ addresses the change of housing systems in Britain and examines the current housing crisis in relation to previous crises.

IDLENESS

“unemployment and enforced inactivity” [2]

Chapter 6 ‘The Fight against Idleness – unemployment and discouraged workers’ addresses Britain’s unemployment trend and discusses the change of unemployment rates between gender, education, age and ethnic groups.

 

References:

[1] Cole, G.D.H. (1942) Beveridge explained: what the Beveridge report on social security means. London: The New Statesman and Nation. Page 15.

[2] Heath, A.F., et al. (2018) Social progress in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Page 9.

[3] Oxford DNB – Beveridge, William Henry, Baron Beveridge.

Summer vacation opening hours for external readers

From Monday the 18th of June, the Library’s opening hours for external readers will change – please see below for details.

NB, members of Nuffield College will continue to have 24×7 access of course! Library staff will usually be in the office on the 1st floor. If you need anything, come and see us, call 01865 278550 or email library@nuffield.ox.ac.uk

Monday 18th June – Tuesday 31st July 2018

Monday-Friday 13:30 – 17:30*

Wednesday 1 August – Friday 31 August

Closed*

Monday 3 September until further notice:

Monday-Friday 13:30 – 17:30*

*Potential archive readers: access is usually still possible during the summer. Please email us with your requested dates and we will get back to you.

 

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the opening of Nuffield College

6th June 1958 marked the long awaited official opening of the newest Oxford College when HRH the Duke of Edinburgh awarded Nuffield College its Royal Charter.  There is an exhibition in the Library where you can see the following images and more, celebrating this special occasion.

The Duke of Edinburgh arrived in Oxford by Royal Navy helicopter and landed in Merton Fields.

HRH the Duke of Edinburgh arriving at Merton Fields, Nuffield College papers, A3/4/4

After a procession and a tour through the College (which was still partly under construction), the Duke of Edinburgh attended a luncheon at which he presented the Royal Charter and made a speech, which was replied to by the Warden, Norman Chester.  These speeches were recorded and are now available to listen to on application to the Library.  Alternatively, the text is available here: Speeches by HRH Duke of Edinburgh and Norman Chester.

Norman Chester, Warden, and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh lead the procession, Nuffield College Papers, A3/4/13

Luncheon menu, Lord Nuffield archive collection, 12/7

The Royal Charter and Statutes confirmed the character of College. The main purpose continues to be that defined by Lord Nuffield when he established the College. Article 3 (c) of the Charter defines it as follows: “To provide for men and women who are members of Our University of Oxford a College for post-graduate work especially in connexion with the study of social (including economic and political) problems and also for any other post-graduate research or work provided that no member of the College or any candidate for membership shall be subject to any test of a religious, political or racial character” (Nuffield College Annual Report 1957-8).

HRH the Duke of Edinburgh chatting to workmen, Nuffield College papers, A3/4/25

Norman Chester, Lord Nuffield and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, Nuffield College papers, A3/4/9

June 6th marked a most important stage in the development of Nuffield College as it achieved the status of an independent College in the University and was now fully responsible for the management of its own affairs and finances.  The College could now also matriculate and take full responsibility for Students.

The major parts of the College buildings were complete, or within sight of completion, allowing it to become residential at the beginning of Michaelmas Term 1958, the Library had begun to move into the Tower in the August.  Nuffield College was thus able to provide fuller facilities for Fellows and Students.

1958 College members, Nuffield College papers, A9/4

A Fourth Week refresher!

Welcome to 4^th Week! Time flies at Oxford, but we hope you are all settling in and enjoying being a part of Nuffield College.

Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who came along to the Library Induction in 0^th Week – it was lovely to meet so many of you, and we hope you found it useful. However, we know that some of you were unable to attend and are that you are bombarded with information at the beginning of term, so we’d like to take this opportunity to remind you of a few of the less obvious services available to support your research:

Book requests: We’ve had lots of book requests so far this term, but we’re always happy to receive more! If there is something you need for your studies that we don’t have, and you think would be a valuable addition to the Nuffield collection, please fill in the form on the website:

Inter-library loans: This is another great way of getting hold of hard to find items. If the item you want cannot be sourced in Oxford, we can request an inter library loan (ILL) on your behalf. Simply email library-ill@nuffield.ox.ac.uk and we will do our best to track it down! The college is willing to pay for 10 ILLs per academic year per member, though if you think you might need more than that, please email us library-enquiries@nuffield.ox.ac.uk so that we can discuss overall provision for your research needs.

Bodleian iSkills: The Bodleian runs a wide range of study skills and research methods courses which are FREE. These great sessions on topics ranging from reference management to research data management can help you learn a new skill or refresh your existing skills before embarking on the next stage of your research. Check out the programme of forthcoming sessions here. Materials from the courses are available online, so if you need a quick refresher, check the libguide, or the specific Social Sciences Research & Skills Training page.

Nuffield Library Research Digest: Clare curates a brilliant monthly research digest, which she circulates by email to college members. It covers the latest research, news, and events from across the social sciences, and also highlights recent library acquisitions. To sign up to receive the next issue, please email clare.kavanagh@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.

Reciprocal borrowing rights: Alongside Nuffield library, the Bodleian, SSL and department libraries, Nuffield members can also use St Antony’s College library. This is part of a reciprocal agreement between the two colleges: you can borrow up to 3 items for a loan period of 1 week so bear it in mind when you are searching for hard to find items. Please email lib.office@sant.ox.ac.uk or phone 01865 274480 if you wish to use the library for study or to borrow from their collection.

Library social media: Last but not least, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and share your tags with us. As well as posting about news, current research and events, the library shares links to college members’ work and publications – so if you have any academic output (articles, book chapters, blog posts, conference presentations etc.) that you want us to share, just let us know!

As ever, if you have any queries, comments or suggestions, please get in touch: chat to us in the library, write us a message on the whiteboard, contact us on social media, or email us. We’re always happy to help.

Tessa, Clare, Ed, and Diana

P.S. If you’re new to Oxford, don’t forget our Oxford collection: guidebooks, history books, and Oxford-related fiction that will help you to get to know the city and its surroundings a little better. Found in the Current Affairs room, it will hopefully inspire you to embark on some non-work related adventures!

Data and Stata at Nuffield

Working with data is a huge part of the social sciences and something that almost every member of Nuffield does at some stage in their research. Here are a few pointers to help you get started on your data journey here in Oxford.

Bodleian Data Library

The Bodleian Data Library provides a wide range of research data services for Oxford University students and researchers, with a focus on the social sciences. The services offered include:

• help to find, access and use social science statistics and data;
• advice on how to access restricted and sensitive datasets which may not be networked;
• a data brokering and clearing house service for the acquisition of datasets by research centres;
• consultancy and training opportunities;
• alerts to new data sources.

Visit their website to learn more.

Research Data Oxford

With advice on everything from planning your data use, to tools that can help you organise and share your data, to advice on depositing your data in ORA-data, Research Data Oxford is a great website that should be your first port of call for any research data management (RDM) queries.

Nuffield College Library

The library holds a wide range of resources on data use, data management, and support resources for data tools. These can all be found by searching SOLO, and the majority are located in the library basement.

Stata Journal and mailing list

Stata is an integrated statistical software package used by many academics, particularly those in the fields of economics, sociology and politics. Its range of capabilities includes simulations, statistical analysis, custom programming, and publication-ready graphics. Stata is not the only software for this purpose: R and SPSS are among the alternatives, but Stata’s power, flexibility and speed, along with its regular updates, make it a popular choice amongst researchers.

A new version of Stata is released roughly every two years. For each release up until and including version 10, Nuffield College Library has a user’s guide and reference manuals: those copies with a shelf mark of ‘Safe’ are stored in closed access so please ask for them at the enquiry desk. Manuals for version 11 onward are available as PDFs within the software, or are available to download from the Stata website.

Articles about the use of Stata and new user-written commands are published in the quarterly peer-reviewed Stata Journal (print copies are found in the Cole Room at Per S). PDF copies of the journal can also be accessed by Nuffield students and fellows: please email library-serials@nuffield.ox.ac.uk to be added to our internal Stata email list.

Access to Stata will have been provided to you by your department – for help from Oxford IT Services, please follow this link.

Questions?

If you have questions about any aspect of data, or library resources relating to data, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we will be happy to help: library@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.

Vacation!

It’s the long vacation and all loans to Nuffield College members are due back on Monday of 10th week (26/06/17)

• Please return ALL your books.
• We will then renew your membership as appropriate for next year.
• You can re-issue any books that you still need.
• Enjoy the summer!

Lord Nuffield enjoying a cruise!