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

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) 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 (CeASR) The Legacy in Question

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) 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 (CeASR) 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 (CeASR) Unemployment Rate Working Age

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) Female Employment Rate

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) Proportion of employment that PT

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) Labour Productivity

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) The Crisis in Social Reproduction Copyright: SamPac: Creative Commons -

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) Working Age Economic Inactivity

and Applied Global Ethics So the system of finance capitalism in Britain has reallocated capitalism’s surpluses to the very rich since the 1970s inequality has risen Source: Jones et al (2008), Table 2.

and Applied Global Ethics Source: Barnard, 2008.

and Applied Global Ethics Inequality in the OECD OECD Factbook: Trends in Income Inequality mid 1980s- mid 2000s

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) The Crisis in legitimacy Copyright: Collective Commons, Wikipedia:

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) Crime and Recorded Crime

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) Mortgage arrears and reposessions

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) 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.” (1994a).

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) 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 (CeASR) 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 (CeASR) Legacy 4: Financial Sector Dependence

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) Wage share as a Proportion of GDP Source: National Statistics Dataset NatPD, Compensation of Employees at Current Prices (DTWM), GDP at current prices (YBHA). Accessed

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) But when ordinary people do not receive enough of the overall share of economic growth, they cannot keep spending…. … one way of overcoming this problem is to use credit

Legacy 5: Working class consciousness Nationalism/racism. Support for divisive policies. Lack of concern for inequality/insecurity.

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

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) Source: Natcen (2013), British Social Attitudes Survey

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR)

Source: Natcen (2013), British Social Attitudes Survey

Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR)

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 (CeASR) Contact Dr Alex Nunn Director, Centre for Applied Social Research Leeds Metropolitan University G24, Queen Sq House City Campus Leeds LS2 8AF Website: Blog: