What does social responsibility have to do with the Victorian era?

The mass industrialization in Britain opened a Pandora' Box of social problems connected to the period. These included mass poverty, a lack of education of the masses, social problems such as Alcoholism and child labor. Social responsibility by the upper classes treated the solving of these problems as a duty because of their elevated social status. In general, this involved providing direct help or that administered via the social agencies for those less privileged as a result of the rigid class system of the time.