The Library
George Osborne's machonomics
Tools
Watson, Matthew (2017) George Osborne's machonomics. British Politics, 12 (4). pp. 536-554. ISSN 1746-918X.
|
PDF
WRAP-George-Osborne-machonomics-Watson-2017.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (736Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-017-0059-3
Abstract
Feminist scholars have described the behavioural traits that have flourished within the global economy in terms of a hegemonic ‘I know best’ masculinity. Whilst this literature has typically focused on a small number of business leaders around whom popular myths of wealth creation have developed, the same way of thinking might also be applied to policy-makers. At the very least, this study of George Osborne’s time as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer reveals how consistently he adopted the mantle of an omniscient hegemonic masculine subject in his approach to deficit reduction. It was an attitude to the task at hand I label ‘machonomics’. This concept is designed to mean more than that the outcomes of his austerity programme disproportionately disadvantaged women. It also captures the type of policy-maker that Osborne tried so hard to convince others he was. His self-projection finds a parallel, I argue, in what the macroeconomic theory literature describes as the specifically ‘conservative policy-maker’, someone reputed for trusting his own judgement even in the face of widespread dissent against his anti-social policies. The conservative policy-maker exudes the hegemonic masculinity that Osborne embodied in his refusal to voice opinions in public suggesting that there were viable alternatives to painful public expenditure cuts.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Consumption (Economics) -- Great Britain., Osborne, George,1971-, Masculinity., Hegemony., Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1997-2007., Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 1997-, Great Britain -- Economic policy -- 1997-, Economic policy., Financial crises., Feminist economics. | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | British Politics | ||||||||
Publisher: | Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1746-918X | ||||||||
Official Date: | November 2017 | ||||||||
Dates: |
|
||||||||
Volume: | 12 | ||||||||
Number: | 4 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 536-554 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 29 August 2017 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 31 August 2018 | ||||||||
Related URLs: |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year