New Right View on Social Class Inequality Flashcards
What does Peter Saunders (1996) believe
That inequality is the price to be paid for the effectiveness of the Neo-liberal free market economy that has delivered the economic growth and prosperity that has generally raised the living standards of all sections of British society
What does Saunders argue about capitalism
That capitalist societies have to offer incentives to those with talent and enterprise in the form of more income and wealth because these people are the innovators
What does Saunders argue about equality of opportunity
That equality of opportunity is important because all talent needs to be encouraged. Belief in meritocratic principles means that people are more willing to accept inequality because they can see it is the result of fair competition
How has Saunders New Right perspective been criticised
For generally neglecting the fact that social and economic inequality tends to result in envy and hostility among those at the bottom of the stratification system
What did Charles Murray suggest in the 1990s
That those on welfare state benefits in both USA and UK constituted a subculture of poverty that he termed the ‘underclass’
What did Murray argue about the underclass
It was the result of over-generous welfare benefits.
The underclass was made up of people who were long term unemployed and dependant on the benefits - whilst also being workshy. Happy to let the state support them and no do anything else
What did Murray say the majority of the underclass was
Composed of ‘problem families’ who no longer subscribed to the moral consensus of marriage etc.
The underclass included a large number of single mothers whose children had multiple fathers who rarely took economic responsibility for their children.
What does Murray claim the underclass are responsible for
The rise in crime in the 1990s
What do Studies say in response to Murray
That studies of the poor and long-term unemployed do not support Murrays view that a distance underclass united by shared and deviant value system exists. The evidence suggests that the poor are not workshy.
What do some sociologists say that critic the New Right view
That poverty is not self-imposed by individual weakness but shaped by social forces that are beyond the control of the individual.
Why might governments be partially responsible for poverty
Because they failed to encourage economic investment in deprived inner-city areas and schools and because austerity cuts of recent years have targeted poorer sections of society
What has Murray been accused of
Scapegoating the poor and distracting attention away from the real causes of poverty such as the growing inequality between rich and poor in Western societies
