This collection focuses on work and unemployment in the lives of working-class Britons from 1824 (the Vagrancy Act) to 1911 (the National Insurance Act). The collection is framed around what the work imperative - the expectation that able-bodied men, to fit into the dominant construction of masculinity and demonstrate their worthiness, had an obligation to work for pay. This gendered conception of work had significant implications for understandings and experiences of unemployment. Throughout the period these volumes address that being out of work was seen as a problem almost exclusively for men (even if women were mentioned in legislation or policies) because of their assumed primary roles as breadwinners and providers. The collection explores power relations between unemployed people and those with the ability to provide assistance to them, and the continuing struggles over the meanings of work and unemployment.