The Crisis of the British Welfare State

1 July 1983

journal article
research article
Published by SAGE Publications in International Journal of Health Services

Vol. 13 (3) , 459-477
https://doi.org/10.2190/7dt0-rjju-56bq-89xu

Abstract

This paper analyzes the implications of the rightward shift currently underway in the advanced capitalist world for the future of the welfare state. The Thatcher government in Britain is examined as a paradigm case of this new conservatism. The quantitative cuts in social spending as well as the quantitative shifts in social policy and ideological reversals of recent years are detailed, and the contradictions of both Thatcherism and its predecessor—social democratic reformism—are exposed from the perspective of Marxist political economy. A postscript attempts to explain the continuing popularity of Thatcherism in contemporary Britain despite the devastating effects of its policies.

Keywords

WELFARE STATE

This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:

The Crisis of Liberal Democratic Capitalism: The Case of the United States
Politics & Society, 1982
The New Right and Social Policy
Critical Social Policy, 1981
The Political Economy of the Welfare State
Published by Springer Nature ,1979
The Transition from Capitalism to Socialism
Published by Springer Nature ,1979
The Fiscal Crisis of the State
Published by Springer Nature ,1973