Neoclassicism, the New Right and British Social Welfare

Abstract

The growing disquiet about the British welfare state has, not surprisingly, been articulated by various versions of conservative thought. However, it should be stressed that there is no homogeneous body of ideas that can be labelled uncontroversially as conservative, neoclassical liberal, or New Right. The criticisms of the modern welfare state are varied and the nuances evinced by various authors can be traced to fundamentally rival philosophical predispositions. However, they do seem to form a perhaps unnatural, but convenient, coalition in opposition to prevailing social democratic sentiments.