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‘EVERYMAN A CAPITALIST’ OR ‘FREE TO CHOOSE’? EXPLORING THE TENSIONS WITHIN THATCHERITE INDIVIDUALISM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2017

ALED DAVIES Open the ORCID record for ALED DAVIES [Opens in a new window] ,
JAMES FREEMAN  and
HUGH PEMBERTON
ALED DAVIES*
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
JAMES FREEMAN*
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
HUGH PEMBERTON*
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
*
Department of History, School of Humanities, University of Bristol, 11 Woodland Rd, Bristol, bs8 1tb[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Department of History, School of Humanities, University of Bristol, 11 Woodland Rd, Bristol, bs8 1tb[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Department of History, School of Humanities, University of Bristol, 11 Woodland Rd, Bristol, bs8 1tb[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
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Abstract

It is widely recognized that ‘the individual’ was prioritized by the Thatcher governments. However, there has been little analysis by historians of exactly how the Thatcher government conceptualized ‘the individual’. In this article, we attempt to remedy this deficiency by undertaking a case-study of a key Thatcherite social policy reform: the introduction of ‘personal pensions’. This approach allows us to understand the position of ‘the individual’ on the functional level of Thatcherite policy-making. In doing so, we argue that there was no coherent or fixed Thatcherite concept of the individual. Instead, we identify three fundamental tensions: (i) should individuals be capitalists or consumers; (ii) were they rational or irrational; and (iii) should they be risk-taking entrepreneurs or prudent savers? This reflected, in part, conflicts within the diverse tapestry of post-war neoliberal thought. We demonstrate in this article that these tensions undermined the Thatcher governments’ original attempt to create a society of entrepreneurial investor-capitalists, which in turn cemented their preference for simply maximizing individual freedom of choice within a competitive – yet tightly regulated – market environment.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 477 - 501
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

The authors are indebted to Amy Edwards, Andrew Seaton, Ben Jackson, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, contributors to discussion at a number of conferences, and the journal's anonymous referees for their very helpful and supportive comments on earlier drafts of this article. The research on which it was based was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/L004739/1, The Thatcher Pension Reforms and their Consequences).

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49 DHSS Public Inquiry into Provision for Retirement, 24 Jan. 1984, TNA: BN 147/36.

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96 Centre for Policy Studies evidence to DHSS Inquiry, TNA: T530/128.

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98 Ibid.

99 Ibid.

100 Evidence from the US and UK Section 226 schemes suggested this: ‘Save and Prosper Group, memorandum on portable pensions’, TNA: T50/128; Maurice Oldfield to N. Montagu, ‘Inquiry into Provision for Retirement: portable pensions’, 24 Jan. 1984, TNA: BN 147/26.

101 Centre for Policy Studies evidence to DHSS Inquiry, TNA: T530/128.

102 Actually there had been doubts about fund managers risk-taking: Eric Short, ‘Pension funds “too vital to be left to managers”’, Financial Times, 15 Nov. 1977.

103 Centre for Policy Studies evidence to DHSS Inquiry, TNA: T530/128.

104 Ibid.

105 Ibid.

106 Seammen, ‘Portable pensions’, TNA: T530/128.

107 D. J. Seammen to G. W. Watson, ‘Inquiry into Provision for Retirement evidence from NAPF and Mr Vinson’, 10 Jan. 1984, TNA: T 530/128.

108 Ibid.

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110 Adam Ridley to chancellor of the exchequer, ‘Portable pensions and all that’, 11 Nov. 1983, TNA: T 530/128.

111 Seammen, ‘Portable pensions’, TNA: T530/128.

112 C (85) 27, memorandum by the secretary of state for social services, ‘Review of social security: final decisions’, 25 Nov. 1985, CAB 129/219/27.

113 Cmd 9518, Reform of social security: programme for change, p. 5.

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118 Hayek, The constitution of liberty, pp. 248–65.