Hodkinson, SN and Robbins, G (2013) The Return of Class War Conservatism? Housing under the UK Coalition Government. Critical Social Policy, 33 (1). ISSN 0261-0183
Abstract
The May 2010 election of a Conservative-dominated UK Coalition Government unleashed an unprecedented austerity drive under the auspices of “deficit reduction” in the wake of the global financial crisis. This article focuses on housing policy to show how the “cuts” are being used as an ideological cover for a far-reaching, market-driven restructuring of social welfare policy that amounts to a return of what Ralph Miliband called “class war conservatism”. We revisit the main ideological contours and materialist drivers of Thatcherism as a hegemonic strategy, discussing the central role played by housing privatisation in the neoliberal project that was continued, but not completed, by New Labour. We then discuss the Coalition’s assault on the housing welfare safety net it inherited, arguing this has rapidly shut down alternative directions for housing and represents a strategic intervention designed to unblock and expand the market, complete the residualisation of social housing and draw people into an ever more economically precarious housing experience in order to boost capitalist interests.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2013, Author(s). This is an author produced version of a paper published in Critical Social Policy. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | class, Coalition Government, housing privatization, neoliberalism, Thatcherism |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > SOG: Cities & Social Justice (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 13 Jun 2012 11:33 |
Last Modified: | 24 Oct 2016 18:41 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0261018312457871 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Sage Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0261018312457871 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:74333 |