Conservative thought and the welfare state

Political Studies

Volumn 45, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 331-345

  Barry, Norman ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0040007887     PISSN: 00323217     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1467-9248.00085     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. See Viscount Hailsham, The Conservative Case (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1959), p. 109.
2. Though this was originally a Liberal measure, successive Conservative governments have made no attempt to reverse it.
3. These became 'weapons' in the 'War on Poverty'. They are described in Charles Murray, Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950-80 (New York, Basic, 1984).
4. See Norman Barry, 'Economic Liberalism, Ethics and the Social Market' in James Meadowcroft (ed.), The Liberal Political Tradition (Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 1996), pp. 56-76.
5. Roger Scruton, The Meaning of Conservatism (London, Macmillan, 1984), p. 95.
6. Acceptance of the Beveridge reforms became a part of the conservative's 'Middle Way', see Ian Gilmour, Inside Right (London, Quartet, 1978).
7. See David Willetts, Modern Conservatism (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1992), p. 140.
8. Willetts, Modern Conservatism, p. 141.
9. F. Pym, The Politics of Consent (London, Hamish Hamilton, 1984), p. 113.
10. Scruton, The Meaning of Conservatism, p. 183.
11. John Gray, The Moral Foundations of Market Institutions (London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1992), pp. 66-9.
12. Even 'One Nation' Tories worry about the tendency of welfare states to grow, see Michael Heseltine, Where There's a Will (London, Hutchinson, 1987), p. 58.
13. Michael Oakeshott, On Human Conduct (Oxford, Clarendon, 1975).
14. Oakeshott, On Human Conduct, p. 311.
15. See F. A. Hayek, 'Why I am not a conservative', in his The Constitution of Liberty (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960), pp. 397-411.
16. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, p. 304.
17. Raymond Plant in Modern Political Thought (Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1991), pp. 266-82, has vigorously defended the symmetry of welfare rights and civil rights. But even those who make such a claim concede that welfare rights should not be granted until the potential beneficiary has made some effort to secure her own well-being. For a review of the argument, see Norman Barry, Welfare (Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1990), pp. 78-81.
18. Raymond Plant in Modern Political Thought (Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1991), pp. 266-82, has vigorously defended the symmetry of welfare rights and civil rights. But even those who make such a claim concede that welfare rights should not be granted until the potential beneficiary has made some effort to secure her own well-being. For a review of the argument, see Norman Barry, Welfare (Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1990), pp. 78-81.
19. See Norman Barry, 'The philosophy of the welfare state', Critical Review, 4 (1990), 353-57.
20. Most conservatives make a connection here between the welfare state and the cultivation of personal responsibility, see Pym, The Politics of Consent, ch. 7.
21. See Julian Le Grand, The Strategy of Equality (London, Allen and Unwin, 1982).
22. 'Beneficial involvement' occurs when people take action to make themselves eligible for certain welfare benefits. The middle classes are adept at it, see Robert Goodin and Julian Le Grand, Not Only the Poor (London, Allen and Unwin, 1987), ch. 4.
23. Such an approach is not logically inconsistent with egalitarianism, though all conservatives reject attempts to use welfare systems to advance equality.
24. Almost all 'guaranteed income' schemes would be condemnable by anti-rationalist conservatives since their authors neglect to consider the unintended consequences of such superficially neat proposals.
25. M. Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1962). Also, Samuel Brittan and Steven Webb, Beyond the Welfare State: an Examination of Basic Incomes in a Market Economy (Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press, for The David Hume Institute, 1990).
26. M. Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1962). Also, Samuel Brittan and Steven Webb, Beyond the Welfare State: an Examination of Basic Incomes in a Market Economy (Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press, for The David Hume Institute, 1990).
27. Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, p. 191.
28. Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, p. 190.
29. See Robert Sugden, Who Cares? (London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1984) and Norman Barry, 'Friedman', in Vic George and Robert Page (eds), Modern Thinkers on Welfare (London, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1995), pp. 31-47.
30. See Robert Sugden, Who Cares? (London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1984) and Norman Barry, 'Friedman', in Vic George and Robert Page (eds), Modern Thinkers on Welfare (London, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1995), pp. 31-47.
31. In the USA it would be difficult to produce a complete NIT because that would mean abolishing Social Security. For a discussion of Murray, see Norman Barry, The New Right (London, Croom Helm, 1987), pp. 156-9.
32. Charles Murray, Losing Ground, part III.
33. Murray, Losing Ground, pp. 147-53.
34. Murray, Losing Ground, pp. 53-5.
35. Charles Murray, In Pursuit of Happiness and Good Government (New York, Simon and Schuster, 1988), p. 164.
36. Murray, In Pursuit of Happiness and Good Government, pp. 260-93.
37. Charles Murray, 'What to do about welfare', Commentary, December (1994), 26-8.
38. Murray seems to think that morality would emerge spontaneously in the absence of big government, see In Pursuit of Happiness and Good Government, ch. 2.
39. Charles Murray, The Emerging British Underclass (London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1990), and The Underclass: the Crisis Deepens (London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1994).
40. Charles Murray, The Emerging British Underclass (London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1990), and The Underclass: the Crisis Deepens (London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1994).
41. See Nathan Glazer, The Limits of Social Policy (Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1988).
42. Gilmour, Inside Right, p. 168.
43. See David Ellwood, Poor Support (New York, Basic, 1988), p. 5.
44. Lawrence Mead, Beyond Entitlement: the Social Obligations of Citizenship (New York, Free, 1985).
45. Lawrence Mead, The New Politics of Poverty: the Non-Working Poor in America (New York, Basic, 1992).
46. Mead, Beyond Entitlement, p. 98.
47. Mead, Beyond Entitlement, p. 169.
48. Mead The New Politics of Poverty, p. 169.
49. Mead, The New Politics of Poverty, p. 134. See also Murray, 'What to do about welfare', pp. 29-31.
50. Mead, The New Politics of Poverty, p. 134. See also Murray, 'What to do about welfare', pp. 29-31.
51. Mead, The New Politics of Poverty, p. 181.
52. William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged: the Inner City, the Underclass and Public Policy (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1987), claims that traditional working class employment declined in the cities and the new high technology industries moved to the suburbs. The resulting unemployment had little to do with welfare.
53. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, pp. 22-5.
54. See David Green, Community without Politics (London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1996).
55. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (1996).
56. Glazer, The Limits of Social Policy, p. 7.
57. Books recounting the perceived dissatisfaction with the British welfare state are legion. See especially, Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon, Wither the Welfare State: a Quarter Century of Suppressed Choice (London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1987), Grant Jordan and Nigel Ashford (eds), Public Policy and the Nature of the New Right (London, Pinter, 1993).
58. Books recounting the perceived dissatisfaction with the British welfare state are legion. See especially, Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon, Wither the Welfare State: a Quarter Century of Suppressed Choice (London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1987), Grant Jordan and Nigel Ashford (eds), Public Policy and the Nature of the New Right (London, Pinter, 1993).
59. The total spent on Health care in the USA is a staggering 14% of GDP (up from 6% in the 1960s). But recently the biggest expenditure increases have come in the quasi-national health service for the elderly, Medicare, and that for the poor, Medicaid.
60. The development, since the 1970s, of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) which involve prepayment for a comprehensive range of medical services is the most well-known method of controlling costs but there are others.
61. See David Green, Challenge to the NHS (London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1986).
62. See Norman Barry, 'The state, pensions and the philosophy of welfare', Journal of Social Policy, 3 (1985), 468-90; Paul Craig Roberts, 'Social security: myths and realities', Cato Journal, 3 (1983), 393-401.
63. See Norman Barry, 'The state, pensions and the philosophy of welfare', Journal of Social Policy, 3 (1985), 468-90; Paul Craig Roberts, 'Social security: myths and realities', Cato Journal, 3 (1983), 393-401.
64. Norman Barry, The New Right and Provision for the Elderly' in Grant and Ashford, Public Policy and the Nature of the New Right, pp. 256-9.
65. However, Britain is in a slightly better position because of reforms to the State Earnings Related Pensions Scheme in the 1980s, see Barry, 'The New Right and Provision for the Elderly', pp. 260-4.
66. For a critique of the intergenerational contract model of pension provision, see Barry, 'The state, pensions and the philosophy of welfare', pp. 484-7.
67. Carolyn Weaver, 'The economics and politics of the emergence of social security', Cato Journal, 3 (1983), p. 364.