Excluding the Excluded : New Labour’s Penchant for Punishment
New Labour’s emphasis on personal responsibility leads it to shun any definition of the socially excluded as the passive victims of socio-economic circumstances. It encourages them to act positively to re-integrate themselves into “mainstream” society by participating in welfare-to-work schemes etc....
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| Veröffentlicht in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/osb, |
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| 1. Verfasser: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprache: | Anglais |
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Observatoire de la société britannique
2011
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| Online Zugang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Zusammenfassung: | New Labour’s emphasis on personal responsibility leads it to shun any definition of the socially excluded as the passive victims of socio-economic circumstances. It encourages them to act positively to re-integrate themselves into “mainstream” society by participating in welfare-to-work schemes etc. Importantly, this involves an acceptance of a certain value system as promoted by the government. Refusal to accept these values - often taken to denote membership of an underclass (increasingly used by New Labour in the negative sense employed by Charles Murray) - is interpreted as a rejection of the offer of inclusion and may attract sanctions. According to the “moral agenda”, criminals, having offended against the moral order of society by demonstrating a complete lack of responsibility, do not deserve to be included in the community. All attempts at genuine inclusion are overshadowed, as crime control becomes a means of restoring government’s moral/electoral legitimacy. |
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