Rethinking Disadvantage Box How can we challenge disadvantage
Rethinking Disadvantage Box How can we challenge disadvantage politically?
The political challenge • Our current economic model has delivered many benefits over the past 40 years. • Globally, there has been poverty reduction in developing countries, such as China and India, as a result of industrialisation. • People have access to more consumer goods. • People have been able to travel more widely, experiencing a broader range of goods than previous generations. • However, as suggested in Session 1, inequality and disadvantage continues to rise in the UK. • What specific policy options are available to deal with these challenges? Rethinking Disadvantage Box
Institutions and redistribution • There are two distinct approaches that the British Government has adopted in the past century: • The creation of welfare system a comprehensive • The creation of national institutions • These policies were advanced to deal with extremes of poverty and destruction in the wake of World Wars. • They run contrary to the neoliberal and libertarian models, and are often regarded as being related to the Rethinking Disadvantage Box Keynesian model, examined in Session 3. • This session will reflect on the effect of these two approaches over the course of several generations and examine two possible means of revitalising policy.
The post-War crisis Rethinking Disadvantage Box • In the wake of WWII, Britain was bankrupt. • Private industry seemed unable to solve these challenges independently. • Successive generations had fought global wars at great cost. • Political parties of all ideological positions had promised the British people that a better future awaited the end of war. • Austerity measures were introduced, food was rationed and employment was often relatively low-paid. • Home ownership and educational attainment was relatively low. • There were many public health issues, including those stemming directly and indirectly from the war, from industry and from poor housing. • The Election of a Labour Government in 1945 led to the development of a radical series of policies that shaped what came to be known as the ‘Post-War Consensus’. • The consensus would last from the middle of the 1940 s until the end of the 1970 s.
The Post-War Consensus • The post-War consensus consisted of: • high and progressive taxation, such that, in 1979, the highest earners were subject to a rate of 83% income tax • the nationalisation of industry, meaning that the state controlled directly the production of goods as varied as natural minerals and motor vehicles • engagement with trade unions in the development of policy • the creation of the National Health Rethinking Disadvantage Box Service • the expansion of educational institutions, such that increasing numbers of people pursued higher qualifications through Further Education Colleges, Polytechnics, which had a vocational focus, new universities, such as Lancaster, and the Open University • the creation of the welfare state, replacing earlier and less comprehensive forms of support for the poor.
The core principles • The post-War consensus was grounded in belief that all British Citizens ought to be able to work, improve themselves through education, receive medical support when ill and material support when unemployed through no fault of their own. • It was believed that the state had to invest in its citizens in order for its citizens, the economy and society as whole to function and advance. • Given that the first half of the 20 th Century had witnessed two global wars, Rethinking Disadvantage Box and then the Cold War between two opposing ideological blocs and wars of independence against European powers, this investment was also seen as essential to ensuring a nation’s ‘competitiveness’ against rivals. • It was believed that only the state could perform this function, as no private enterprise would bear the costs of lossmaking activities, such as the provision of services in rural or declining areas.
The outcomes • The Consensus promoted equality, contributing to a range of positive outcomes: • People’s life expectancies increased • People were more highly educated • People were more likely to own their own house • People had access to increasing numbers and types of consumer goods • In addition, society began to become more liberal socially Rethinking Disadvantage Box
How was this achieved? • There were two key pillars to progress: • Firstly, a series of institutions shaped people’s lives, provided security during periods of uncertainty and enabled individuals to progress through aspiration. • Secondly, the redistribution of wealth through progressive taxation brought society together, such that the social problems associated with inequality highlighted in session 1 were diminished. • Importantly, the Consensus recognised Rethinking Disadvantage Box that individuals need more than mere money in order to succeed. They also need institutions by which to induct them into productive activities and through which to progress. • Individuals had access to health, education and employment institutions, but were also often members of trade unions, social clubs and religious organisations and were involved in community activities that led to relationships that enabled individuals to receive support throughout their lives.
How were people affected? Rethinking Disadvantage Box • Prof Gibson Burrell, University of Leicester, was born in Newcastle and raised in Ashington, a mining village in Northumberland, in the 1940 s, 1950 s and 1960 s. • Gibson’s father, who was a manager in the mines, was a member of a number of institutions, including the Masons, which ensured that his family were secure even after his death. • He talks of the importance of institutions in shaping the lives of people in his community. • Indeed, while he talks of the hardship, violence and gender divisions of life in the community, the institutions, combined with increasing wages, ensured that Gibson was able to become a Professor at leading universities – perhaps the clearest example of social mobility. • The National Coal Board, which took over Britain’s collieries in 1947, provided increasing security in what was an incredibly dangerous job.
Institutions and security See 05: 57 -06: 58 Rethinking Disadvantage Box
The end of the Consensus • As we examined in session 3, the election of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party in 1979 marked the end of the Post-War Consensus. • The economy and society had seemed to stagnate and the electorate supported a manifesto that promised economic freedom, industrial modernisation and greater wealth overall. • The trade unions were seen as too powerful, having imposed inconvenience and hardship on the country during the Winter of Discontent Rethinking Disadvantage Box in 1978 -1979 through a series of strikes that affected such things as rubbish collection. • The Conservative Party promised to challenge the unions and to modernise the economy, even if it meant further strike action. • With its neoliberal wing ascendant, Britain adopted policies of lowering and equalising taxes, such that the burden on the wealthy was lifted, privatising national industry, reducing the welfare state and promoting private healthcare.
There is no such thing as society • The intellectual basis of this project was illustrated by Prime Minister Thatcher as follows: ‘I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand “I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!”… and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first’. • Whereas, in the previous decades, Rethinking Disadvantage Box institutions through which to progress, from 1979 onwards, those institutions were systematically dismantled or neglected. • In regions, such as the North East, in which there was an active trade union movement, industries were privatised or closed and no alternative employment developed. • Institutions associated with those industries, such as trade unions or Social Clubs, withered. • People moved in to long-term unemployment and social problems rose.
The loss of institutions See 34: 01 -35: 35 Rethinking Disadvantage Box
The loss of income, identity and capital • While people have gained access to consumer goods, holidays and increased house values, the loss of institutions meant that many people lost, among other things, : • their sources of income and the ability to support families • their identities as workers and social esteem as self-sufficient • their social ‘capital’ and networks that served to create opportunities and prevent loneliness • their daily routines that limited some Rethinking Disadvantage Box drug use • some of the skills that enabled them to perform effectively in work • This meant that their children grew up in a totally different and much more chaotic environment than their parents, meaning that disadvantage became entrenched, worsening with each generation. • Whereas, once, people had developed the capacity to advance ambitious social projects, decades of destitution meant that communities had collective forms of disadvantage inflicted on them.
The human cost See 06: 24 -09: 39 Rethinking Disadvantage Box
Rethinking generational Disadvantage Box Exercise 1: Comparing approaches to institutions Thinking back to your homework and the material you have just covered, work in pairs to consider the following: a) What are the differences between the organisations and institutions that played a role in your grandparents’ lives and those in your lives? b) What are the differences between the way that your grandparents viewed the NHS when they were young the way that you view it today? c) Are there any differences between your views and the views of your grandparents with regard to the notion of nationalised organisations, industries or companies? d) Do you agree with your grandparents’ assessment of whether society is more equal today or during their youth? e) Why might you have different views to your grandparents?
The end to the neo-liberal consensus • Until the Referendum on Exiting the European Union in 2016, the neo-liberal consensus had survived even the 20072008 Global Financial Crisis and the Great Recession that followed it. • However, the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party, the vote to leave the European Union and the election of Theresa May as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister seemed to mark the end of the consensus. Rethinking Disadvantage Box
Theresa May: Injustice See 00: 50 - Rethinking Disadvantage Box
Dealing with inequality • Britain faces a number of challenges that seem certain to exacerbate the issues identified by Mrs May. • Industry is increasingly automated, threatening existing jobs, while those jobs that will remain, such as in delivery, are increasingly piecemeal and precarious and associated with flexible and zero hours contracts. • The Government has thus far remained committed to low tax and low spend neo -liberal policy both in advance of and Rethinking Disadvantage Box following the 2017 General Election. • However, a number of policies have been suggested by figures from across the political spectrum to deal with the core issues of the day. • We will now examine some of them.
Universal Basic Income • Universal Basic Income (UBI) ensures that all citizens receive a secure, predictable monthly cash payment. • This is intended to reduce insecurity associated with unemployment and precarious employment. • It replaces some or all elements of needs -based or means-tested welfare systems. • However, proponents claim that it simplifies the state, reduces bureaucracy and makes citizens’ relationships with one another and the state more positive. • The size of the payment and the means Rethinking Disadvantage Box of securing funds through tax to pay for it is disputed.
The reason for UBI See 01: 27 -05: 32 Rethinking Disadvantage Box
UBI and disadvantage • Most importantly, UBI raises the incomes of the worst off and promotes equality. • It challenges the social disabilities inflicted by disadvantage. • Instead of having to devote time to proving eligibility for benefits, citizens are free to engage in constructive activities that may not otherwise be supported by the free market. • In particular, it supports essential caring and cleaning professions that are otherwise poorly paid and lowly Rethinking Disadvantage Box regarded by employers. • Indeed, if UBI is generous, workers have the capacity to refuse work that is poorly paid or performed in poor or dangerous conditions. • This promotes the standard, quality and esteem of work that remains within the remit of human beings. • However, critics argue that it is expensive, that it encourages laziness and that it undermines the free market.
Assessing UBI See all Rethinking Disadvantage Box
Exercise 2: Should we have UBI? • In groups of 4 or 5, spend 5 minutes discussing the following: a) What are the strengths of UBI? b) What are its weaknesses? c) With those considerations in mind, is there a level of UBI (monthly payment) that you think would be justifiable? Rethinking Disadvantage Box
Investing in institutions • Redistributing wealth is, though, only one possibility. • The broader success of the Post-War Consensus lay in the creation of institutions such as the NHS. • Our NHS is now in crisis due to underfunding, poor planning, poor private finance initiatives and an ageing population. • Indeed, there is also a care crisis, in which people who require care, but who Rethinking Disadvantage Box are not in need of critical hospital treatment, have no other place to go than hospital, thus blocking access for those who do need that treatment. • Mrs May sought to deal with that issue through the so-called ‘Dementia Tax’, but has since relented. This has meant that the issue remains unsolved and is worsening by the day.
The NHS Crisis See all Rethinking Disadvantage Box
Should we invest? Rethinking Disadvantage Box • It is not just the health service that is in crisis. Our privatised public transport system remains crowded, inefficient, unprofitable and propped up through Government subsidies. Indeed, foreign state owned companies operate some rail franchises, being paid by our state to provide services to our citizens. • In 2015, Labour Leader Ed Milliband was described as ‘Red Ed’ for proposing caps on energy prices. Conservatives argued that interference in the economy would distort prices and undermine fundamental property rights. However, Mrs May has recently adopted similar policies. • Moreover, our natural monopolies, such as water, and energy system remain controversially in private hands. Prices continue to rise along with profits, while the Government again provides subsidies to overseas companies and governments to provide us with essential goods. • Indeed, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party has called for greater funding for the NHS, the creation of a national care service to deal with the care crisis, introduction of a publicly owned national energy company and the nationalisation of the railways. • What should we do?
Exercise 3: Should we create institutions Rethinking Disadvantage Box • In groups of 4 or 5, spend 10 minutes discussing the following: a) Is it morally wrong for the nation to own the resources (water, energy, etc. ) and essential services (health, transport, etc. ) within a country? b) Thinking back to discussion of institutions during the Post-War Consensus, would you support the creation of new institutions to deal with the issues that affect us today?
Summary Rethinking Disadvantage Box • There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that institutions are important. • Trials of UBI are taking places in Finland elsewhere. • They help people achieve any number of different ends. • Support for increased investment in the NHS is rising, with more people willing to approve tax rises to pay for improvements. • Many institutions have been destroyed over the past few decades without being replaced. • While there have been many benefits in terms of access to material goods and experiences, the loss of institutions has caused many problems. • Over the past couple of years, awareness of this has grown and new approaches are being developed across • Politicians are beginning to call for new institutions to be created, having recognised that neoliberalism has not been able to satisfy needs in all parts of the country. • Having examined the importance of institutions, next week, we will be examining the potential role of education in promoting your interests.
Homework: Rethinking Disadvantage Box For the next session, consider in detail the role of education in your family’s history and your life today: a) what choice did your ancestors have over their course of education? c) what do you like and dislike about school? b) what was school like for your grandparents/great grandparents and parents/guardians? What did they like and dislike? How did their experiences differ from your school life? d) what educational path do you wish to take? Do you wish to leave school? Do you wish to go to university? Why?
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