The Basic Values Underlying New Right Thought - Assignment Example

What Are The Basic Values Underlying New Right Thought? How Did These Values Influence Social Welfare Legislation In The 1980s And 1990s Table of Contents The Basic Values Underlying New Right Thought 3 The Effect of the Values on Social Welfare Legislation in the 1980s and 1990s 8 References 11 The Basic Values Underlying New Right Thought New Right ideology is referred as a political revolt by the Protestants of several countries. It is used as an explanatory term for various policies or groups that are followers of right-wing in politics. New Right thought mainly affected secular humanism and issues such as patriotism, laissez-faire, traditional and liberal conservatism, classical liberism, Christian democracy and nationalism. The New Right perspective came into reality in response to the changes in the world in the 1960’s and 1970’s and continued till 1980’s and 1990’s. It mainly focused on laissez faire, minimalist state, choice, competition, privatisation, efficiency, personal responsibility, individualism, self help, celebration of the market, tax cuts, education, improved health, housing and reduced poverty. From 1970’s onwards, the views of the New Right thoughts started gaining popularity in the United Kingdom. The political thought of New Right consists of two components such as neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism, which are at times complementary and at times contradictory (Axford, 1997). The neo-liberal dimensions of New Right philosophy mainly supports individualism, laissez faire and minimal government involvement among the duties of the society which include protection of the general public and total maintenance of the circumstances compulsory for the proper functioning of the market. Neo-liberals believe that individuals are the best judge of their own self-interests and are rational as well. Maximum individual freedom is required for establishing the behaviours so that it does not harm others. Moreover, it is believed that economic efficiency and high standard of living can be achieved only through high levels of laissez faire, which promotes economic efficiency enhancing customer tastes, responsibilities and preferences. Thus, self-interest can improve the overall economic interest of the society but due to varied reasons, government restrains the idea. In addition, minimal or limited government interventions are also crucial for enhancing economic growth but act negatively for protecting social array (Earlham Sociology Pages, 2011). New Right thought focused on the idea of reducing the role of state by tax-cuts, but as the idea would decline the support of the state from education, public services and social spending so it is argued by others. But it came into existence as it helps to improve the investments of individuals and corporations thereby stipulating economic activity of the state (Cambridge University Press, 2011); (The Heritage Foundation, 2011). New Right thought provides emphasis on the public choice theory as government is based on it, but it is at times opposed as ministers are responsible for augmenting their own powers. Competition is the other vital factor which is emphasised by the New Right thought. It is through competition, that the economic efficiency can be improved and these enable the manufacturers to respond to the changes. But it is quite lower due to higher attentions in personal interests (Axford, 1997). Apart from these, New Right notion states that the government should avoid intervening in the lives of the citizens as it offers a whole range of services for the social wellbeing, irrespective of their needs and wants. But, as the government fails, it creates demotivation and destruction among the individuals. Thus, self-help provision helps in attainment of individuals’ true prospective through motivation and choice, but it is opposed by others. The problem like poverty can be reduced only through state intrusions or actions (Axford, 1997; Varoufakis, 1998). New Right policy provides greater emphasis on individualism consisting of economic affairs which are more essential in order to secure greater monetary efficiency to increase the living standards. This resulted in privatization of nationalized industries in order to ensure superior dependence on the mechanism of the market; and the income tax rates for the higher income earners are to be reduced in order to squeeze the incentives to work, save and invest (Hughes, 1998). The growth of the welfare-dependent underclass is restricted due to privatization of national industries which resulted in reduction of the income tax rates and thus, reduced the rate of unemployment and the powers of trade unions. It emphasized the increased employment opportunities of both single and married women, availability of jobs for poorly qualified individuals, personal relationships and leisure activities. But, neo-conservatism differs in several aspects. It highlighted that excess freedom may lead to economic and social inequality so neo conservatives stressed more on the use of limited government with traditional family, institution, traditional norms and education. The ideas of New Right tinted on necessity of providing ‘Welfare State’, which should offer ‘safety net’ such as health, education, hospitals, social security, pensions, public transport as well as social services to the citizens of the state (Hughes, 1998). But conversely, the profit making organisations in order to earn high profits would reduce the level of services of healthcares, education and housing. Personal responsibilities are focused on by the principles of New Right by providing care to the elders, disabled and female members of the family. The New Right thought also has influence on National Health Services (NHS), police and military because higher intensity of unemployment requires improved level of social security (Earlham Sociology Pages, 2011). Thus, it can be said that New Right policy led to varied changes for the welfare of the society such as reduction in income tax rates, unemployment, inequality, slavery and poverty. It helped the society by enhancing educational facilities, social security, female employment as well as protection by NHS. New Right policy also introduced training criteria for the young taskforce, pension system for labours, system of minimum wages and housing benefits among others. Hence, New Right thought facilitated to reorganize the welfare of the state by reducing unemployment, poverty and improving the job opportunities, education, social security, pension systems, health care and this resulted in celebrations of the market (Lister, 2010; Hill, 1998). Thus, the above discussed factors act as a motivator and help in augmenting the financial as well as economic position of the country among other developing and developed nations. Conclusively, it is observed from the above discussion that New Right ideology acted as a boon for the citizens of the different states as it helped in welfare reforms as well as incorporation of various new systems and ideas for wellbeing of the society. The Effect of the Values on Social Welfare Legislation in the 1980s and 1990s ‘New Right thought’ in late 1980’s-1990’s followed forward movement both inside and outside the liberal and national associations which support reasonably liberal and improved social conventional policies as well as practices. At that time, the government mainly centred on mobilizing the individuals, families, market and voluntary relations rather than social welfare of the country. Thus, New Right implemented the speech of ‘realism’ which is used to describe the lawmaking procedures as well as to eradicate the origins of crimes from the society. It became apparent that unemployment along with poverty, are the root causes of crimes in the society. This is due to decline of family values, disciplines and norms. Thus, the supporters of New Right thought more resources need to be allotted towards education system as well as training methods to highlight devotion for moral values, principles and rules (Gladstone & Et. Al., 1999). In 1990s, the ‘Social Control Theory’ came into existence and mainly originated to suppress crime and improve the social welfare of the country. It also provided a consistent connection between criminal behaviour and age. The theory includes three types of control such as direct punishment for unlawful behaviour, indirectly desisting the youth from law-breaking as it may cause tenderness and dissatisfaction to parents and others with whom he or she has internal relations and the internal way, in which an individual’s principles or faults prevent the person from engaging in antisocial acts. These theories can assist in preventing anti social crimes in the society. It is also known as ‘Social Bonding Theory’ and facilitates an individual’s relationships, commitments, values, norms, and beliefs which persuades him/her from breaking the laws. Thus, if moral values can be internalised among the individuals, then the propensity of abnormal acts can be reduced. Hence, proper education of values, norms, beliefs, morale, ideas and cultures within the society can help to reduce the thought of crimes (University of Virginia, 1999; Gladstone & Et. Al., 1999). Apart from these, the other vital factor of crime has been the lack of personal self-control. Individual self-control advances with age due to many factors such as hormonal development, socialisation and rising occasional costs of losing control. In addition, illegal acts are frequently uncontrolled but opportunistic and short-ranged, which can be condensed only by improving an individual’s self-conception or self-image. This is focused in containment theory. The inner containments of self-images are established inside the family and are shaped by the age of twelve and can regulate the person from being engaged in illegal acts (Galilee, n.d.). Moreover, the New Right idea not only emphasized on regulating the youth sections from indulging in crimes but also spotlighted on reducing the criminal opportunities by implementation of situational theories. It states that crime is often occurred as accidents of certain practical or attractive opportunities such as an unlocked car or an open window may lead to a criminal activity. Thus, it is necessary to reduce the circumstances of offenses in order to condense crimes (S-cool Youth Marketing Limited, 2011; University of Virginia, 1999). Thus, the prime focus of these theories is to control and prevent the illicit behaviour by preventing criminal from breaching the legal laws and punishing them on such acts. This might facilitate to recover the morals of the individuals which might avert the unlawful conducts by the use of social control theory and situational theories (University of Virginia, 1999). This can only be enhanced through better educational opportunities in the economy as well as socialisation and group norms and values likewise play a vital role while determining the internal cultures and ideas of an individual (Galilee, n.d.). Hence, it can be stated that as unemployment and poverty rose due to economic depression, the unlawful activities also increased. Thus, various social welfare legislation rules and regulations came into limelight in order to suppress the curse of illegal behaviours among the society. Furthermore, New Right ideology offered special stress to welfare reforms such as education, job training, child care, employment, social security and medical care in order to improve the standard of living. This can also motivate the young, healthy and low-income individuals to opt for jobs instead of crimes or drug violence. Crimes can be prevented also by reducing inequalities, poverty and female employment criteria among others. Thus, the New Right thought is considered as a dominant philosophy mainly responsible for the welfare reform of the society as well as the individuals by reducing the evil of unemployment, slavery, poverty and improving the standard of living through engagements in various job opportunities (Net Industries and its Licensors, 2011). References Axford, B., 1997. Politics: An Introduction. Routledge. Cambridge University Press, 2011. Perspectives on Politics. Journals. [Online] Available at: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=55788F92C7F0B2A24DFAFEF0BE168F9A.journals?fromPage=online&aid=286248 [Accessed December 21, 2010]. Earlham Sociology Pages, 2011. The New Right, Families and Households. Introduction. [Online] Available at: http://www.earlhamsociologypages.co.uk/newrightfamily.html [Accessed December 21, 2010]. Earlham Sociology Pages, 2011. The New Right and Thatcherism. Document Contents. [Online] Available at: http://www.earlhamsociologypages.co.uk/newrightthatcherism.html#Right [Accessed December 21, 2010]. Gladstone, D. & Et. Al., 1999. Before Beveridge: Welfare before the Welfare State. Introduction. [Online] Available at: http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/cw47.pdf [Accessed December 21, 2010]. Galilee, J., No Date. 21st Century Social Work. Literature Review on Media Representations of Social Work and Social Workers. [Online] Available at: http://www.socialworkscotland.org.uk/resources/pub/SocialWorkersandtheMedia.pdf [Accessed December 21, 2010]. Hughes, G., 1998. Imagining Welfare Futures. Routledge. Hill, J., 1998. Thatcherism, New Labor and the Welfare State. Introduction. 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[Online] Available at: http://faculty.virginia.edu/sixties/readings/War%20on%20Poverty%20entry%20Poverty%20Encyclopedia.pdf [Accessed December 21, 2010]. Varoufakis, Y., 1998. Foundations of Economics: A Beginners Companion. Routledge. Read More