Policy Press
Two Snap judgements and rational choices
Abstract
The Third Way was a project for finding new expression for the values of socialism, feminism, antiracism, and social justice. This chapter shows that the attempt to define a new settlement of this sort was a conscious effort to transcend Margaret Thatcher’s ‘property-owning democracy’, by combining individualism with egalitarianism in a new way. This involved the reconciliation of two apparently conflicting ‘cultural projects’, one concerned with personal self-realisation and rights to autonomy, the other with membership and community. The attempt to do this through abstract general principles, combined with detailed codification, legislation, regulation, prescription, reward, and punishment, marked out the Third Way as a utilitarian project, in the tradition of Jeremy Bentham. However, a politics of the common good requires both the mobilisation of snap judgements derived from social experiences and the intelligent design of a collective infrastructure that promotes solidarity.
Abstract
The Third Way was a project for finding new expression for the values of socialism, feminism, antiracism, and social justice. This chapter shows that the attempt to define a new settlement of this sort was a conscious effort to transcend Margaret Thatcher’s ‘property-owning democracy’, by combining individualism with egalitarianism in a new way. This involved the reconciliation of two apparently conflicting ‘cultural projects’, one concerned with personal self-realisation and rights to autonomy, the other with membership and community. The attempt to do this through abstract general principles, combined with detailed codification, legislation, regulation, prescription, reward, and punishment, marked out the Third Way as a utilitarian project, in the tradition of Jeremy Bentham. However, a politics of the common good requires both the mobilisation of snap judgements derived from social experiences and the intelligent design of a collective infrastructure that promotes solidarity.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgements iv
- Introduction 1
-
A moral order?
- Value, virtue and justice 23
- Snap judgements and rational choices 43
- Nature, science and cosmology 63
-
Regulation and relationship
- What is economics good for? 87
- Moral regulation: rituals, symbols and the collective conscience 109
- In search of a moral compass 129
-
The policy response
- Sharing wealth, income and work 151
- Sustaining quality of life 171
- Conclusions 191
- References 205
- Index 223
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgements iv
- Introduction 1
-
A moral order?
- Value, virtue and justice 23
- Snap judgements and rational choices 43
- Nature, science and cosmology 63
-
Regulation and relationship
- What is economics good for? 87
- Moral regulation: rituals, symbols and the collective conscience 109
- In search of a moral compass 129
-
The policy response
- Sharing wealth, income and work 151
- Sustaining quality of life 171
- Conclusions 191
- References 205
- Index 223
