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Title: |
Fair conditions and fair consequences? Exploring New Labour, welfare contractualism and social attitudes. |
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Reference: |
Social Policy and Society, 11(3), July 2012, pp.359-373. |
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ISSN paper: |
1474-7464 |
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ISSN online: |
1475-3073 |
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Abstract: |
This article explores the intention and effects of New Labour's ‘conditional’ welfare-to-work strategy. With a central role for conditionality, New Labour aimed to fashion a distinctive form of welfare contractualism, distinct from the ‘punitive’ US workfare system. It attempted to do this by outlining an ethic of ‘reciprocal responsibility’ which distributed rights and responsibilities equally to both government and claimant. In doing so, New Labour argued that its reform agenda would avoid the worst effects of a workfare strategy where the unemployed are blamed for their predicaments. The aim of this article is to explore whether contractualism has indeed been compatible and associated with fair or reciprocal attitudes towards the unemployed. To achieve this, longitudinal trends in social attitudes towards the unemployed drawn from the British Social Attitudes series are presented. The evidence shows that since 1997 attitudes have severely hardened against the unemployed. Despite New Labour’s attempts to style a ‘third way’ between the workfare and social rights models, social attitudes have evolved to reflect a preference for an unsympathetic punitive system. This evidence supports arguments about the adverse effects that welfare contractualism can have for wider social relations. |
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Format: |
article; |
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Topics: |
benefits; government policy; longitudinal studies; public opinion; social welfare; unemployment; |
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Record ID: |
www.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk/profile.asp?guid=5b0a0d99-2986-4387-91fe-b12dd8cf26b3 |
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