Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Contents -- Series Foreword -- Introduction -- Social theory and political analysis: Suspicious neighbours? -- The theoretical argument and contribution -- The structure of the book, and how to read it -- Definitions and boundaries -- 1 The Society-Politics Relation: On the Inescapably Social and the Irreducibly Political -- Introduction -- The irreducible nature of politics -- The inescapable fact of the social -- The empirical interplay between the social and the political -- Critique, social theory and political analysis -- 2 Politics From Above: The State and Governance -- Introduction -- Social theory, state and civil society -- Contemporary social theory and governance -- Case study 1: An active state in a changing world - the Third Way -- Case study 2: Citizens as co-governors: culture governors, expert citizens and everyday makers -- Reading the state and governance through social theory -- Conclusion: The state, governance and the society-politics relation -- 3 Politics From Below: Political Identity and Participation -- Introduction -- Classical social theory and the Self -- From stable Selves to fluid identities -- Case study: Political consumerism -- Reading political consumerism through social theory -- Conclusion: Political identity, participation and the society-politics relation -- 4 Politics All Around: Culture, Ideology and Discourse -- Introduction -- Theorising culture, ideology and discourse -- Case study: The hegemony of neoliberalism -- Reading neoliberalism through social theory -- Social theory and its empirical object: The challenge of neoliberalism -- Conclusion: Ideology, discourse and the society-politics relation -- Conclusion -- Restating the theoretical argument -- Summarising the substantive chapters -- Sociology, political science and a (post-?)neoliberal world -- Bibliography -- Index.

Behaviour change is increasingly central to policy and politics. The exemplar of nudge, and its relationship to behavioural economics and psychology, is outlined. Nudge's claim to libertarian paternalism is evaluated in the context of the neoliberal state. A sociological critique of behavioural economic assumptions enables a still wider account of shifting state–citizen relations. Foucauldian analyses of such relations, as well as deliberative 'think' perspectives, are assessed. A more explicitly political, social-democratic model of the behaviour change state is advocated. This would be more attuned to the socioeconomic context of behaviour, and also be prepared to defend citizens against ubiquitous attempts to shape their subjectivity.

Social democrats are seeking a project beyond New Labour's dwindling Third Way. In particular, they have seized on the idea of a 'progressive consensus' as a means of entrenching a deeper, cultural shift in British society on centre-left terms. This article assesses the potential of social democratic responses to New Labour for fulfilling this task. 'Traditional' and 'modernising' perspectives are identified, each of which have a positive and critical variant. The critical-modernising approach emerges with the greatest potential for moving beyond the New Labour project. Critical-modernisers operate on the Third Way's analytical terrain—recognising the still-changing operating environment of the centre-left. However, they seek simultaneously to develop a political narrative that is distinct from the Third Way. In order to achieve this latter objective, the normative heritage of more traditional approaches remains a key resource for critical-modernisers, as they seek to show how more recognisably social democratic themes can resonate with a rapidly changing social context.

For New Labour to achieve the 'progressive consensus' to which it aspires, it needs to develop a transformative, cultural politics. This would engage in a battle of hearts and minds with the electorate, seeking to shape its preferences rather than accommodating them. Much of the accumulated criticism of New Labour focuses on its failure to develop an overarching political narrative to fulfil this task. However, critics have also shown that New Labour does have a definite vision of the type of society and individual it is constructing in the face of social change. Unfortunately for progressives, this is based on an image of the acquisitive individual, culturally conservative community and a fatalistic understanding of modernisation. Entrenching a progressive consensus requires a political strategy that resonates with contemporary experiences of social change, while showing how it can be steered in more progressive directions.