New Right Era (1979-1997)

Question 1

What is social policy?

Answer 1

Donnison (2009):
What distinguishes a policy as ‘social’ is the fact that it deals with the distribution of resources, opportunities and life chances between different groups and categories of people.

Question 2

What is the welfare state?

Answer 2

A system whereby the state undertakes to protect the health and well-being of its citizens - especially those in financial or social need by means of grants, pensions and other benefits.

Question 3

What was the post-war welfare state consensus?

Answer 3

A historian’s model of political co-operation in post-war British political history between 1948-1974.
Sealey (2016) - There was a consensus over the popularity and effectiveness of the welfare state e.g. largely full employment, reduced poverty rates and the baby boom (1950-60s).
That consensus came to an end with the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

Question 4

What was the major conflict between the Labour and Conservative governments between 1948-1979?

Answer 4

The major conflict between the two parties, has long been the discrepancies between the ‘promise’ and the ‘performance’ of state welfare.

Question 5

What was the period from 1979 to 1997 in the UK welfare state characterised as?

Answer 5

The period of ‘retrenchment and restructuring.’
The government insisted that it could no longer be a universal provider. More should be left to the market, the voluntary sector and self-help.

Question 6

What occurred within the 1970s energy crisis?

Answer 6

There was a series of energy crises between 1967-1979 caused by problems in the Middle East.
But the most significant was the 1973 oil crisis, when Arab oil producers imposed an embargo (an official ban on trade with a particular country) this led to a decade of limited economic growth.
The crisis caused fuel shortages, blackouts, strikes and high inflation in the UK.

Question 7

What effects did the 1970s oil crisis have on the UK government?

Answer 7

The Conservative government, led by Ted Heath, struggled to cope with high food and petrol prices caused by global shortages.
Trade unions submitted claims for higher wages to keep up with rising prices, which led to confrontation with the miners, the introduction of a three-day week and ultimately the fall of the Tories in 1974.

Question 8

What was the result and effects of the 1974 election?

Answer 8

The election led to a minority Labour government led by Harold Wilson with enduring economic problems.
The UK faced a collapse in corporate profits and stock market values, this led to high unemployment, high welfare receipts and spending.

Question 9

What happened in the 1979 election?

Answer 9

During 1974-1979 Conservatives developed New Right policies and after the 1978 vote of no confidence in Labour Government, they won the 1979 election led by Margaret Thatcher.

Question 10

What was the New Right critique of the post-war welfare state under the Conservatives 1979-1997?

Answer 10

Williams (1989) - The New Right philosophy presented state intervention and the welfare state as a hindrance to economic growth. Due to:

1) Burden of taxation acts as a disincentive to investment.
2) The provision of welfare encourages scroungers, saps individualism and initiative, it generally acts as an disincentive to work.
3) The private market is a superior mode of organisation offering freedom of choice. This drives up standards via competition between providers.

Question 11

What is the New Right political movement?

Answer 11

The New Right derives from more right-wing politics, advocated by Margret Thatcher in the UK.
The New Right believed in privatisation and believed the state should only have minimal involvement in society.
They are opposed to using state welfare to deal with social problems.
State intervention in areas such as family life, income support, education and health care robs people of their freedom to make their own choices and undermines their sense of responsibility.

Question 12

What ideologies is New Right politics comprised of?

Answer 12

Neo-liberalism

Neo-conservatism

Question 13

What is neo-liberalism?

Answer 13

A theory of political economic practices proposing that human well-being is best advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedom and skills within an institutional framework.
It is characterised by minimal state welfare, strong private property rights and free trade.

Question 14

What is neo-conservatism?

Answer 14

Conservatives value the protection of individuals, preservation of intermediate institutions (traditional family) and the private sphere (private property rights).

Question 15

What were some economic policies introduced by the Conservative government between 1979-1997?

Answer 15

These policies concerned privatisation, free market and de-regulation:
1979 Conservative Manifesto - ‘We will reduce government intervention in industry… we shall cut income tax.’
Privatisation of public industries - such as British Gas, water, electricity and British Airways. (opposed nationalism)
1980-1990 Employment Acts - reduced powers for Trade Unions from the coal and manufacturing industries.
1980 Right to Buy Scheme - a policy that gives secure tenants of councils and some housing associations the legal right to buy, at a large discount, the council house they are living in.

Question 16

What were the effects of the Conservative Employment Acts between 1980s-1990s?

Answer 16

The conservative had a long-term strategy in response to the growth in militant trade unionism from the 1970s.
The laws introduced in the 1980s reduced existing Trade Union protections and made solidarity action illegal.
By the 1990s, the Conservative Government bought in laws that fundamentally undermined the role of free trade unions and their rights to organise and take action.
This wave of privatisation changed the British industrial landscape so much that whole sectors were decimated and whole communities were destroyed, leading to high unemployment rates.

Question 17

What were some policies introduced by the Conservative government between 1979-1997 that tackled welfare dependency?

Answer 17

1980/1986 Social Security Acts - altered means-tested benefits in Britain with the aims of targeting benefits more towards the poorest and re-prioritising different types of families.
New forms and conditions were attached to income support, jobs seekers allowance and family credit.

Question 18

What was the Education Reform Act 1988 introduced by the Conservative government?

Answer 18

It gave central government more legal powers and reduced local authorities’ ability to set policy.
It gave new responsibilities to schools and colleges, challenging the local authority’s role both from above (Department of Education) and from below (the school/parents).
The act introduced:
League tables - school league tables in which schools were ranked based on their exam performance in SATs, GCSES, and A levels.
- Forcing schools to raise standards because no parent would want to send their child to a school at the bottom.
National curriculum - required all schools teach the same subject content from the age of 7-16. From 1988 all schools were required to teach the core subjects English, Maths, Science etc at GCSE level.
- Made it easier for parents to compare and choose between schools (parentocracy).

Question 19

What were some policies introduced by the Conservative government between 1979-1997 that tackled family and youth policy reforms?

Answer 19

1996 Family Law Act - the law intended to modernise divorce and shifted towards ‘no fault’ divorce.
Divorce was seen as a private matter, this led to the separation of parenthood from marriage.
1989 Children Act - allocates duties to local authorities, courts, parents and other agencies to ensure children are safeguarded and their welfare is promoted.
1991 Child Support - emphasised family responsibilities, it obliged non-resident parents to be financially responsible for their biologically related children.
- Child welfare rather than parental rights as the primary concern of state agencies.

Question 20

What is meant by welfare state retrenchment?

Answer 20

Welfare retrenchment commonly refers to the
restructuring if not reduction of social policies.
In the UK there were numerous incremental cuts and ’reforms’ which reduced coverage and value of welfare benefits.

Question 21

What are a critique of social welfare policies introduced by the Conservative government between 1979-1997 concerning unemployment?

Answer 21

Critics of the Thatcher era claim that its successes were obtained only at the expense of great social costs to the British population.
There were nearly 3.3 million unemployed in Britain in 1984, compared to 1.5 million when she first came to power in 1979, though that figure had reverted to some 1.6 million by the end of 1990.

Question 22

What are a critique of social welfare policies introduced by the Conservative government between 1979-1997 concerning the childhood poverty rate?

Answer 22

Thatcher was blamed for causing a doubling the relative poverty rate. Britain’s childhood-poverty rate in 1997 was the highest in Europe.
When she resigned in 1990, 28% of the children in Great Britain were considered to be below the poverty line, this kept rising to reach a peak of nearly 30% during John Major’s government.