Watson, Matthew (2009) Gordon Brown's misplaced Smithian appeal : the eclipse of sympathy in changing British welfare norms. Journal of Social Policy, Vol.38 (No.2). pp. 195-210. doi:10.1017/S0047279408002808

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Abstract

Gordon Brown has eagerly lauded his fellow Kirkcaldy citizen, Adam Smith, as his main policy inspiration. This article tests the rigour of such a claim by matching Brown's promotion of Smithian ‘sympathy’ as the centrepiece of his programme for government with the changes introduced by his Treasury to the British welfare model. In the 1970s, Thomas Wilson showed that the traditions of the post-war British welfare state were compatible with a modified form of Smithian sympathy socialised at the level of the state. New Labour has set about reforming the welfare model with respect to both its underlying institutions and the basic subjectivities of its recipients. I show that Brown's substantive preference for an asset-based system of welfare moves those subjectivities away from the ‘relational self’ of Smithian sympathy and towards a much more ‘autonomous self’. Consequently, I conclude that it is stretching Smith's concept of sympathy too far, even in a modified socialised form, to associate it with New Labour's asset-based system of welfare.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Smith, Adam, 1723-1790, Brown, Gordon, 1951-, Welfare economics, Great Britain -- Economic policy, Great Britain -- Economic conditions -- 1997-
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Social Policy
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0047-2794
Official Date:	April 2009
Dates:	Date Event April 2009 Published
Volume:	Vol.38
Number:	No.2
Page Range:	pp. 195-210
DOI:	10.1017/S0047279408002808
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
Funder:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC)
Grant number:	RES-000–22-2198 (ESRC)

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

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