Thatcher's Children, Blair's Babies, political socialization and trickle-down value-change: An age, period and cohort analysis

To what extent are new generations ‘Thatcherite’? Using British Social Attitudes data for 1985-2012 and applying age-period-cohort (APC) analysis and generalized additive models (GAMs) this paper investigates whether Thatcher’s Children hold more right-authoritarian political values compared to other political generations. We further examine the extent to which the generation that came of age under New Labour – Blair’s Babies – share these values. Our findings for generation effects indicate that this political generation is even more right-authoritarian, including with respect to attitudes to redistribution, welfare and crime. We support this view through evidence of cohort effects. Our results show the legacy of Thatcherism for left-right and libertarian-authoritarian values is to be found in its long-term shaping of public opinion through political socialisation.