Nine Consumerism and the reform of public services: inequalities and instabilities
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John Clarke
Abstract
This chapter is concerned with the themes of choice and consumerism in public services. It argues that the rhetoric of choice intersects with the different notions of inequality in the arguments of both New Labour and the Conservatives. The chapter talks about the construction of the service user as a consumer, and how this overlooks the relative advantages that some consumers may enjoy in terms of social and symbolic capital. It also stresses the importance of distinguishing between voice and choice as mechanisms to bring about more responsive services.
Abstract
This chapter is concerned with the themes of choice and consumerism in public services. It argues that the rhetoric of choice intersects with the different notions of inequality in the arguments of both New Labour and the Conservatives. The chapter talks about the construction of the service user as a consumer, and how this overlooks the relative advantages that some consumers may enjoy in terms of social and symbolic capital. It also stresses the importance of distinguishing between voice and choice as mechanisms to bring about more responsive services.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Notes on contributors v
- Introduction 1
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Current services
- Social security and welfare reform under New Labour 15
- New Labour’s education policy: innovation or reinvention? 33
- Transforming the NHS: the story in 2004 51
- Housing in an ‘opportunity society’ 69
- Personal Social Services 85
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Current issues
- Governance and social policy in Northern Ireland (1999-2004): the devolution years and postscript 107
- At home abroad: the presidential election of 2004, the politics of American social policy and what European readers might make of these subjects 125
- The future of healthcare in the UK: think-tanks and their policy prescriptions 147
- Consumerism and the reform of public services: inequalities and instabilities 167
- The challenges of measuring government output in the healthcare sector 183
- Social investment perspectives and practices: a decade in British politics 203
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New Labour
- A rootless third way: a continental European perspective on New Labour’s welfare state, revisited 233
- Welfare after Thatcherism: New Labour and social democratic politics 255
- A progressive consensus in the making? 273
- New Labour’s family policy 289
- Index 303
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Notes on contributors v
- Introduction 1
-
Current services
- Social security and welfare reform under New Labour 15
- New Labour’s education policy: innovation or reinvention? 33
- Transforming the NHS: the story in 2004 51
- Housing in an ‘opportunity society’ 69
- Personal Social Services 85
-
Current issues
- Governance and social policy in Northern Ireland (1999-2004): the devolution years and postscript 107
- At home abroad: the presidential election of 2004, the politics of American social policy and what European readers might make of these subjects 125
- The future of healthcare in the UK: think-tanks and their policy prescriptions 147
- Consumerism and the reform of public services: inequalities and instabilities 167
- The challenges of measuring government output in the healthcare sector 183
- Social investment perspectives and practices: a decade in British politics 203
-
New Labour
- A rootless third way: a continental European perspective on New Labour’s welfare state, revisited 233
- Welfare after Thatcherism: New Labour and social democratic politics 255
- A progressive consensus in the making? 273
- New Labour’s family policy 289
- Index 303
