John Kenneth Galbraith
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691171654
- eISBN:
- 9781400889020
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691171654.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Behavioural Economics
The world has become increasingly separated into the haves and have nots. This book shows how a contented class—not the privileged few but the socially and economically advantaged majority—defend ...
More
The world has become increasingly separated into the haves and have nots. This book shows how a contented class—not the privileged few but the socially and economically advantaged majority—defend their comfortable status at a cost. Middle-class voting against regulation and increased taxation that would remedy pressing social ills has created a culture of immediate gratification, leading to complacency and hampering long-term progress. Only economic disaster, military action, or the eruption of an angry underclass seem capable of changing the status quo. A groundbreaking critique, the book shows how the complacent majority captures the political process and determines economic policy.Less
The world has become increasingly separated into the haves and have nots. This book shows how a contented class—not the privileged few but the socially and economically advantaged majority—defend their comfortable status at a cost. Middle-class voting against regulation and increased taxation that would remedy pressing social ills has created a culture of immediate gratification, leading to complacency and hampering long-term progress. Only economic disaster, military action, or the eruption of an angry underclass seem capable of changing the status quo. A groundbreaking critique, the book shows how the complacent majority captures the political process and determines economic policy.
Chitty Clyde
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847427113
- eISBN:
- 9781447303497
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847427113.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This chapter argues that policy since 1997 has been marked by confusion and contradiction, with Labour wanting to appear to be non-ideological in their approach to welfare reform in order to try and ...
More
This chapter argues that policy since 1997 has been marked by confusion and contradiction, with Labour wanting to appear to be non-ideological in their approach to welfare reform in order to try and capture as much of the middle-class vote as possible, and so unwilling to tackle the question of the role of grammar schools in the education system, or that of how to deal with selection on entry to secondary schools. It links Labour's use of top-down initiatives such as the literacy hour and their extension of the National Curriculum to a fairly clear attempt to privatise education. It concludes by suggesting that there is now little to choose between the two main political parties in respect of education policy.Less
This chapter argues that policy since 1997 has been marked by confusion and contradiction, with Labour wanting to appear to be non-ideological in their approach to welfare reform in order to try and capture as much of the middle-class vote as possible, and so unwilling to tackle the question of the role of grammar schools in the education system, or that of how to deal with selection on entry to secondary schools. It links Labour's use of top-down initiatives such as the literacy hour and their extension of the National Curriculum to a fairly clear attempt to privatise education. It concludes by suggesting that there is now little to choose between the two main political parties in respect of education policy.
