Public Opinion, Ideology and State Welfare

Public Opinion, Ideology and State Welfare (1985) provides a comprehensive explanation of the patterns of ideas about the welfare state held by both academics and by the general public. It argues that the crisis in the welfare state in the 1980s was misunderstood by most writers in the UK – both on the left and on the right. It presents an alternative account of current developments both in the welfare state and in popular and academic thinking. The author reviews the state of popular thinking about the welfare state, the development of welfare policy since the Second World War, and the 1980s crisis – using new evidence to support his arguments in all these areas. He also puts forward a theory of ideology, based on a reinterpretation of Marx, to explain popular attitudes and their political impact, and to give an account of the development of theoretical work in social policy.