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Headlong into the Polanyian dilemma : the impact of middle-class moral panic on the British Government's response to the sub-prime crisis
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Watson, Matthew, 1969-. (2009) Headlong into the Polanyian dilemma : the impact of middle-class moral panic on the British Government's response to the sub-prime crisis. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol.11 (No.3). pp. 422-437. ISSN 1369-1481
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-856X.2009.00379.x
Abstract
This article focuses on the discursive construction in Britain of a middle-class moral panic occasioned by the distress caused to self-styled 'responsible mortgage borrowers' by falling house prices. In the context of the move towards asset-based welfare the sub-prime crisis manifested itself most obviously in the popular consciousness as a threat to housing market wealth. The Labour government used the political space opened up by the narrative of middle-class moral panic in order to protect banks' balance sheets from the consequences of their own failed investments in mortgage-backed securities. The ensuing arrangements immunised banks from the implications of market self-regulation in the first-phase response to the sub-prime crisis while simultaneously allowing them to continue to impose the experience of market self-regulation on their customers. An increasingly asymmetric approach to banking regulation has arisen analogous to that which Karl Polanyi associated with the contradictory co-existence of market and non-market forms.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Brown, Gordon, 1951-, Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2009, Banks and banking -- Government ownership -- Great Britain, Welfare economics, Subprime mortgage loans, Great Britain -- Economic conditions -- 1997- |
| Journal or Publication Title: | British Journal of Politics and International Relations |
| Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. |
| ISSN: | 1369-1481 |
| Official Date: | August 2009 |
| Volume: | Vol.11 |
| Number: | No.3 |
| Page Range: | pp. 422-437 |
| Identification Number: | 10.1111/j.1467-856X.2009.00379.x |
| Status: | Peer Reviewed |
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
| Funder: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC) |
| Grant number: | RES-000-22-2198 (ESRC) |
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| URI: | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/1938 |
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