ABSTRACT
This article focuses on the settlement house movement, transferred from England to the United States in the late 19th century, as a response to the deepening social class divisions triggered by industrial development in American cities. The central question of the article is how the movement, while adapting to American social conditions, contributed to the transformation of societal perceptions of urban poverty. The settlement house approach, based on middle and upper-class volunteers, particularly women, relocating to immigrant-dense impoverished urban neighborhoods to engage directly with social issues on-site, is examined through a historical methodology to assess its contribution to the transformation of perceptions regarding urban poverty. In this context, the study analyzes reports, autobiographies, and sources reflecting the socio-political context of the period, produced by influential settlement houses that operated during the American reform era between 1880 and the 1920s, a time when sociology was also beginning to institutionalize in the United States. The findings demonstrate that through their activities and data-driven reform demands, settlement houses challenged the dominant view that explained poverty through individual failings, and succeeded in influencing public policy. With their origins and methods of operation, the settlement house experience contributes not only to understanding the concerns of American urban history and sociology, but also to grasping the transformation of the American social welfare perspective, as well as the dynamics of contemporary NGOs and grassroots movements. This article aims to draw attention to the intellectual continuity between this historical experience and today’s social policy and civil society dynamics.
