“Recent news from a government white paper released on the 10th of November 2010 states that, Today, five million people are on out-of-work benefits in the UK, and 1.4 million of them have been receiving out-of-work benefits for nine out of the last ten years. Not only have that, but we now have one of the highest rates of workless households in Europe, with 1.9 million children living in homes where no one has a job”.
(http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm79/7957/7957.pdf)
The welfare state of the past has been accused of creating a ‘welfare dependency culture’. Therefore this essay aims at outlining the key elements of the ‘New Rights’ ideology by exploring the theories, values, beliefs and mainly their attitudes towards the welfare state. Following with a critical examination of the relationship these views had in the development of a ‘New’ style of conservative approach to welfare. In order to explore the correlation of conservative and ‘New Right’ perspectives the first ever woman prime minister Margaret Thatcher of the conservative government is briefly mentioned to perceive a better understanding of how the ‘New Rights’ ideologies influenced the decisions made.
The key elements and values of the New Right’s ideology were developed in the early eighties and took a pessimistic view of human nature and the nature of society, a belief in natural inequality, a belief in the inevitability and desirability of political and economic inequality combined with the equality of opportunity.They were ideologically committed to neo-liberalism as well as being socially conservative. Key policies included deregulation of business, a dismantling of the welfare state, privatization of nationalized industries and restructuring of the national workforce in order to increase industrial and economic flexibility in an increasingly global market. (Lund.2002). Many theorists of recent ‘Neo Liberal’draw directly on the writings of Hayek, who had been consistently developing the case for market liberalism. (Alcock, 2003)
Libertarian conservatives or neo-Liberals have adopted liberal ideas, and those from this perspective are commonly referred to as ‘New Right’. Theorists of the new Right such as C.Murray argue that the welfare state creates a ‘Culture of Dependency’ eradicating independence, self help and individual responsibility. Murray went further to add that welfare state is the major cause of family breakdown as it stops women being dependant on men to earn their living, thus leaving the creation of the underclass amongst single women and fatherless children. (Murray 1990). Hence, there is a complete contrast in the belief of the paternalistic Conservative Tradition that believes in social duty and obligation whereas the New Right stresses self help to the state.
Supporters of the neo-liberal elements of New Right ideology argued that a greater emphasis on individualism especially in economic affairs was necessary to secure greater economic efficiency which ultimately would generate rising living standards for all (Lund 2002). Therefore nationalised industries were to be privatised as a means of securing greater reliance on the market mechanism; rates of income taxation were to be reduced in order to increase incentives; rates of unemployment benefit were to be reduced in order to increase self –reliance and restrict the growth of the so-called welfare-dependent underclass; trade union power was to be reduced and Keynesian policies were to be discarded and the goal of full employment encouraged. (Lund, 2002.George and Wilding.1994).
Furthermore, as individual responsibility is fundamental of the New Right’s ideology on human behaviour, according to George and Wilding (1994; pg 22)“Individuals are seen to need clear incentives for good behaviour and punishment for failure. Risk and uncertainty are the real danger of failure it is necessary to human and social functioning”. The New Right‘s assumption of individual responsibility is that of looking after the family first, being self interested and obtaining personal acquisition of wealth. The idea being that people are naturally individualistic in their inspirations and that they respond to the expectation and possibility of individual recompense. However, New Rights view on human nature as rational and self seeking is in contrast with the view of traditional conservatisms mistrust of human reason.
In addition, the New Right state the realism of human nature is that uncertainty, risk and failure are clear inducements for individuals to behave appropriately. As Pratt (2001:35) made clear “the Individual pursuit of self interest only makes sense if individuals act rationally … For if individuals do not always behave in a rational fashion in all circumstances, what should we conclude about the nature of the outcomes of such behaviour”. Other fundamental values of the New Right include freedom (negative) as the most desirable value; described as a freedom to act without any coercion. As Thatcher notably said “There is no such thing as society, only individuals and families”. (George and Wilding 1994).Which again links back to freedom and individual responsibility of creating your own opportunities.
The anti state, pro market ideology of the ‘New Right’ gained spectacular support in the 70’s and 80’s. With many observers contributing their own information at that time made the ‘New Right’ ‘New’. On the other hand, it can be said that the ‘New Right’ in fact wasn’t that ‘New’ it was clearly trying to adopt the ideas and broader perspectives of the classical nineteenth century “laissez- faire” liberalism. However, it could also be argued that the neo-liberal policies and led to a decline in working class communities in inner city areas and mining communities and have resulted in the declining quality of family life, declining support for traditional social disorder all of which are abhorred by neo-Conservatives (Alcock 2003).
Furthermore, the main plank of neo liberal thinking on welfare is its opposition to extensive state intervention to provide public services, in effect, opposition to the very ‘idea of a welfare state. The welfare state is undesirable, Neo Liberals argue, on economic, ideological and political grounds and also because it is undesirable in theory, it is unworkable in practise. (Alcock; 2003 pg 199). According to Hayek and Friedman, left to their own devices the market over state would naturally protect individuals. Therefore it can be seen that the New right believe that the idea of social inequality should be treated by individuals and the state should limit its help or as Thatcher put it “Roll Back the State” (Alcock 2003).
Quasi markets or welfare ‘mix’ is a very important element of the conservative approach to welfare. One of the most significant examples of this was the distinction of ‘purchaser’ and ‘provider’ within the NHS. Spending cuts, increase in dental charges, large increase of prescription charges and a system of competitive tendering for support services was set up. (Lund 2002). According to Bartlett and Le Grande, (1993; 10) cited in Lund.
“Quasi markets are markets because they replace monopolistic state providers with competitive independent ones but they are ‘quasi’ because they differ from conventional markets in a number of key ways”.
Once in power Mrs Thatcher along with New Right Conservatives argued that the private sector is the fundamental source of economic growth and that One Nation Conservatives and labour governments undermined its efficiency of the capitalist economy (Page and Silburn 1999).
In the United Kingdom, New Right more specifically refers to a strand of conservatism that the likes of Margaret Thatcher influenced. Again Thatcher’s work was highly influenced by the work of Freidrich Hayek. “.. The most powerful critique of socialist planning and the socialist state which I read at this time [the late 1940’s], and to which I have returned so often since [is] F. A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom” (British Prime Minister, 1979-1990 Margaret Thatcher 1995; 50). One of the primary aims of the Thatcher government was to reduce the provision of welfare services. For instance, the selling of council houses (the right to buy scheme) was introduced under the 1980’s Housing Act, in return this would ideally make people more responsible for their own property and paying for their own repairs would stimulate the market.(Gerry Mooney cited in Pratt 2001)
The 1970s saw the growing significance of New Right conservative thinking and Mrs Thatcher’s version of New Right ideology has involved a combination of neo-liberal and neo-Conservative ideology in that as well as accepting the importance of the market mechanism she and her supporters have believed that a strong state would be necessary to re-establish law and order, to maintain law and order in the face of significant industrial disputes such as the miners’ strike of 1984 -85, in the provision of state education which was believed to be failing to meet the needs of the capitalist economy. Consequently Andrew Gamble has argued, very importantly, that Mrs Thatcher’s beliefs may be summarised as involving a belief in the free economy and the strong state. (Gamble 1993).
Furthermore, Mrs Thatcher also believed that it was necessary to strengthen the private sector through the privatisation of previously nationalised industries, therefore implying that she rejected all of the arguments which socialists have traditionally used in support of public ownership. She further emphasised the conservative belief in private property by encouraging individuals to buy shares in privatised industries and as mentioned previously by enabling council house tenants to purchase their council houses at a reduced rate, which alone can guarantee rising living standards for all (Gamble 1993). Hence,“Wage demands from trade unions, according to monetarist doctrine, do not by themselves raise or lower the rate of inflation and the involvement of unions in discussions about general economic policy are entirely unnecessary “(Gamble.1993; 244).
However, there are some disputes within conservatism in that, within a capitalist system traditional institutions should be respected and the state should play a significant role in the management of gradual social change. Whereas the New Right adopts a more radical and less traditional approach to social change in which the role of the government should be more limited. (George and Wilding 1994). Currently the coalition Government are planning a welfare reform, in an interview with Andrew Mars from the BBC David Cameron was asked his intentions with the welfare state for the future, …” If you take welfare reform, what we are putting forward is the most radical reform of the welfare state since Beveridge for sort of 60 years. I think it will have a transformative effect on making sure that everyone is better off in work and better off working rather than on benefits. And that’s a great thing we can do for our country and for the very poorest people in our country too”. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/andrew_marr_show/9055402.stm).
In Conclusion, as it has been shown Liberalism and Conservatism have a strong correlation in their values, theories and overall dubious attitudes towards the welfare state. In respect of their relationship their ideas had in the development of a new style conservative approach to welfare, it is evident that the ‘New Right’ sees individual responsibility and limited interference from the state as their major targets. A reoccurring theme of New Right ideology is that the Market should be neutral, left to run itself (laisze faire) and this should protect the individual from unsuitable living conditions. As Page and Silburn(1999) quoted, “The main beneficiaries of the welfare state are the unemployed, long-term sick, families with dependent children and the elderly but such is the illogicality of the system that neo liberals argue is that it is difficult to distinguish the deserving Poor (who should be the concern of our altruistic sentiments) and the undeserving poor, who must be presented with an incentive structure that discourages them from becoming a welfare claimant”.
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White Paper.(2010).Great Britain. Government Department. Universal Credit. A Welfare That works. London. CM 7957.
(http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm79/7957/7957.pdf)
