Watson, Matthew, Ph.D.. (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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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
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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