Centre for Applied Social Research Ce ASR Thatchers

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Thatcher’s Legacy? Dr Alex Nunn Director, Centre for Applied Social Research

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Outline Thatcher’s Legacy in Question Legacy 1: Crisis in the Neo-Liberal Project Legacy 2: The New Labour Project Legacy 3: The Neo-liberal individual Legacy 4: Popular dependence on the financial sector. • Legacy 5: The fractured and unconcious working class. • • •

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) The Legacy in Question

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Legacy 1: Crisis in the Neo-liberal Project “too many inefficient and poorly run companies, too many underachieving people, too little investment in research, innovation and physical capital and too frequent shifts in government policy” (IPPR, 1997, quoted in Coates, 2000: 47).

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) The Crisis in Accumulation “the Thatcherite project proposed only a limited modernisation…The industrial power of the British working class was contained and its political influence was marginalised, but little was done to remedy the cycle of low pay, low skill, low investment and low productivity in which many sectors had become caught”. (Gamble,

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Unemployment Rate Working Age 1971 -2004

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Female Employment Rate 1971 -2004

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Proportion of employment that PT 1971 -2004

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Labour Productivity 1961 -2004

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) The Crisis in Social Reproduction Copyright: Sam. Pac: Creative Commons - http: //www. flickr. com/photos/68593573@N 00/322639083/

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Working Age Economic Inactivity 1971 -2004

Total Household Income by Quintile 1977 -2006/7 % Share of all Household Income less Direct Taxes 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 Top So the system of finance inequality has in risen capitalism Britain has reallocated capitalism’s surpluses to the very rich since the 1970 s 4 th 3 rd 2 nd 10 Bottom 5 0 1977 1981 1986 Source: Jones et al (2008), Table 2. www. alexnunn. net 1992 1996/97 2001/02 2006/07 Politics and Applied Global Ethics

Overall Level of Inequality in the UK 50 45 40 35 30 25 19 83 19 84 19 85 19 86 19 87 19 88 19 89 19 90 19 91 19 19 92 93 19 /94 94 19 /95 95 19 /96 96 19 /97 97 19 /98 98 19 /99 99 20 /00 00 20 /01 01 20 /02 02 20 /03 03 20 /04 04 20 /05 05 20 /06 06 20 /07 07 20 /08 08 /0 9 Level of Inequality (Gini Coeficiant) before and after tax 55 Equivalised original income Equivalised post-tax income www. alexnunn. net Source: Barnard, 2008. Equivalised gross income Equivalised disposable income Linear( Equivalised original income) Politics and Applied Global Ethics Linear( Equivalised original income)

Inequality in the OECD Factbook: Trends in Income Inequality mid 1980 s- mid 2000 s www. alexnunn. net Politics and Applied Global Ethics

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) The Crisis in legitimacy Copyright: Collective Commons, Wikipedia: http: //commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/File: Poll_Tax_protests, _March, _31 st, _1990. jpg#filelinks

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Crime and Recorded Crime

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Mortgage arrears and reposessions

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Blair and Thatcherism as a Crisis “It is a feature of modern living that the majority enjoy a prosperity their grandparents would have thought impossible. Yet at the same time this economic well being is increasingly threatened by social disintegration. Crime, high structural levels of unemployment, serious poverty and the collapse of family and community stability; these are the hallmarks of society today, no less than the mortgage and personal pension. If our social fabric is torn in this way, we undermine our capacity to act and think as one country. We deprive ourselves of the necessary sense of purpose essential to any decent civilised nation. ” (1994 a).

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Legacy 2: The New Labour Project “The limitations of Thatcherism are clear. The claims of an economic miracle have evaporated. Society is divided. The people are insecure. The public is once again ready to listen to notions associated with the left. ” (1994: 2).

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Legacy 3: The Neo-Liberal Individual • We are building an aspiration nation. A country where it’s not who you know or where you’re from but who you are and where you’re determined to go. My dream for Britain is that opportunity is not an accident of birth, but a birth-right. (Cameron, March 2013)

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Legacy 4: Financial Sector Dependence

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Wage share as a Proportion of GDP Source: National Statistics Dataset Nat. PD, Compensation of Employees at Current Prices (DTWM), GDP at current prices (YBHA). Accessed 11 -04 -2011.

Research (Ce. ASR) Household Financial Liabilities as a Proportion of the UK Economy Household Financal Liabilities as % of GDP at Current Market Prices 110% Centre for Applied Social 105% 100% But when ordinary people do not receive enough of the overall share of economic growth, they 90% cannot keep spending…. 95% 80% 75% … one way of overcoming this problem is to use credit 70% 65% 60% 19871988198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009 Source: ONS Time series Data: YBHA, NNPP.

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Legacy 5: Working class consciousness • Nationalism/racism. • Support for divisive policies. • Lack of concern for inequality/insecurity.

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Public support for tightened conditionality Source: Ipsos Mori (2012), 21 st Century Welfare.

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Source: Natcen (2013), British Social Attitudes Survey

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR)

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Source: Natcen (2013), British Social Attitudes Survey

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR)

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Conclusions • Thatcher legacy is over stated in its significance for neo-liberal project. • The neo-liberal project, which Thatcher characterises, has left 5 defining legacies: – The crisis in the neo-liberal project (wider than UK) – The transformation of party politics and 2 nd Phase Neo -liberalism. – The aspirant neo-liberal individual. – Popular dependence on the financial sector. – The fractured and unconscious working class. • Strategies of the left need to address these.

Centre for Applied Social Research (Ce. ASR) Contact Dr Alex Nunn Director, Centre for Applied Social Research Leeds Metropolitan University G 24, Queen Sq House City Campus Leeds LS 2 8 AF Email: a. nunn@leedsmet. ac. uk Website: www. alexnunn. net Blog: http: //leedspage. wordpress. com/ Twitter: @alexnunn 1