A new history of British neoliberalism that looks beyond right-wing actors.
The rise of British neoliberalism—a renewed emphasis on privatization and market-oriented economics—over the last fifty years is often characterized as the product of right-wing political economists, think tanks, and politicians. The Neoliberal Age? argues that this pat narrative ignores broader forces in British left-wing culture that collaborated to transform twentieth-century social life. Through a variety of case studies, the authors demonstrate that our austere, individualistic age emerged from more complex sociopolitical negotiations than typically described.
The rise of British neoliberalism—a renewed emphasis on privatization and market-oriented economics—over the last fifty years is often characterized as the product of right-wing political economists, think tanks, and politicians. The Neoliberal Age? argues that this pat narrative ignores broader forces in British left-wing culture that collaborated to transform twentieth-century social life. Through a variety of case studies, the authors demonstrate that our austere, individualistic age emerged from more complex sociopolitical negotiations than typically described.
412 pages | 3 halftones | 6.14 x 9.21 | © 2021
History: British and Irish History
Political Science: Comparative Politics, Political Behavior and Public Opinion
Table of Contents
List of figures List of tables List of contributors List of abbreviations Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: A neoliberal age? Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, Aled Davies and Ben Jackson 2. What came between New Liberalism and neoliberalism? Rethinking Keynesianism, the welfare state and social democracy David Edgerton 3. Intellectual histories of neoliberalism and their limits Ben Jackson Part I. Welfare State and Social Policy 4. Welfare in a neoliberal age: The politics of redistributive market liberalism Peter Sloman 5. The failures of neoliberalism in Britain since the 1970s: The limits on ‘market forces’ in a de-industrialising economy and a ‘New Speenhamland’ Jim Tomlinson 6. British varieties of neoliberalism: Unemployment policy from Thatcher to Blair Bernhard Rieger Part II. Work and Family 7. ‘I don’t know how she does it!’: Feminism, family and work in ‘neoliberal’ Britain Helen McCarthy 8. Workers’ voice and the moral economy in Britain’s ‘Neoliberal’ Age Jim Phillips 9. Where was entrepreneurship in post-war Britain? Freedom, family, and choice in modern British shopping cultures Sarah Mass Part III. Politics 10. ‘The privatisation of the struggle’: Anti-racism in the age of enterprise Camilla Schofield, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, Rob Waters 11. Neoliberalism and the Labour Party Mark Wickham-Jones 12. Neoliberalism and Conservatism in Britain James Freeman Part IV. Political Economy 13. Organised business and the rise of neoliberalism: The Confederation of British Industry 1965-1990s Neil Rollings 14. The roots of Britain’s financialised political economy Aled Davies 15. Begrudging neoliberalism: Housing and the fate of the property-owning social democracy, Guy Ortolano 16. Afterword: British neoliberalism and its subjects Tehila Sasson Bibliography Index