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How does Dickens use Scrooge to draw attention to the social reform that was so urgently required in Victorian England with his work "A Christmas Carol"?

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With his novella A Christmas Carol, Dickens exposes the class prejudice of the Victorian era and its cruel Poor Laws, and with his characterization of the Crachits, he argues against the prevalent theory of Thomas Robert Malthus in Essay on the Principle of Population (1798).
An ardent social reformer, Charles Dickens wrote literary works that exposed such things as the plight of the orphaned, those in the workhouses, and the overall neglect and demonizing of the poor. In A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge becomes the mouthpiece of Thomas Malthus, who argued that England's population growth would supersede food supply, so the poor had no right to live if they were not productive and could not contribute to the economy and sustain themselves. Scrooge repeatedly echoes this idea with his phrases, "Are there no workhouses?" in which to put what he considers the idle and useless poor, and his cruel retort to those who would be charitable that rather money and care being wasted on the poor, they should be allowed to simply die and "decrease the surplus population.
In Stave III, the Spirit of Christmas Present carries Scrooge to the humble home of his employee, Bob Crachit where Scrooge witnesses the loving family's humble but joyous celebration of Christmas. Especially poignant is the focus upon the crippled Tiny Tim, who exemplifies true Christian thought in his remark that he hopes those who saw him at church will be reminded of how Jesus loved the poor and healed the crippled.Shamed after witnessing this scene, Scrooge asks the Spirit what will become of little Tim, and the Spirit replies that if "these shadows remain unaltered" the child will die.

"No, no," said Scrooge. "Oh, no kind Spirit! say he will be spared.""If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race...will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."     Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted...and was overcome with penitence and grief.

Then, the Spirit scolds Scrooge:

"Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child."

So, after his experiences with this Spirit and with the Spirit of the Future, Scrooge resolves to exhibit Christian charity and love to all God's creatures. Thus, Dickens exhorts his countrymen to practice their Christian principles, as well, through reform of the Poor Laws.

Answer

Initially, Scrooge represents the heartless mindset Victorian society often adopted when it came to society's unfortunates. Rather than pitying the poor and disadvantaged, Victorian society ignored these people. Scrooge verbalizes such sentiments when he refuses to donate to charity:

“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.”
“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.
“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”
“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”
“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge.
“Both very busy, sir.”
“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”

Scrooge believes the current laws regarding the treatment of the poor are sufficient, not because he knows this to be a fact, but because he is selfish and cannot be bothered with any troubles but his own. Scrooge lives alone, ignores his family, and tends to view other people as nuisances.
Scrooge only comes to change his mind when observing the Crachit family during his time with the Ghost of Christmas Present. Here, the poor are given faces. The Crachit who affects Scrooge most is Tiny Tim. When he worries about the boy's health, the Ghost of Christmas Present repeats Scrooge's earlier dismissal of the poor, effectively holding up a mirror to Scrooge and showing him just how inhumane he has been in his attitude towards others.
By humanizing the poor through Tim and other characters, Dickens is not only appealing to Scrooge's better nature, but to the reader's as well. Dickens often sought to portray the downtrodden in his books to inspire social change, and he knew that change could only come from caring about the people in need. Instead of the poor being a faceless mass, Dickens made readers care about impoverished orphans like Oliver Twist and Nell Trent so that they would be inspired to bring about social change in real life. Here, he does so in an almost metafictional manner by having Scrooge be the reader surrogate.

A Christmas Carol

How does Dickens use Scrooge to draw attention to the social reform that was so urgently required in Victorian England with his work "A Christmas Carol"?

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