Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T21:13:02.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Between Neoliberalism and Nationalist Populism: What Role for the ‘European Social Model’ and Social Quality in Post-Brexit Europe?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2018

Steve Corbett  and
Alan Walker
Steve Corbett
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences, Liverpool Hope University E-mail: [email protected]
Alan Walker
Affiliation:
Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article investigates the idea of ‘the social’ in Europe after the UK's EU Referendum vote, with reference to the ‘European social model’. It is argued that the key drivers of the vote outcome did not feature in the referendum campaign but are features of longer running and deeper fractures in both British and wider European society. Especially, the lack of response to societal problems, the downplaying of individual participation, and a crisis in democracy created by an increasingly neoliberal direction within an EU concerned with austerity and social control, contrary to the values of the ‘European social model’ (Walker, 2005). In the absence of action for better ‘social quality’, this overall neoliberal direction has also weakened the progressive and integrative potential of social policy. The result is the regressive nationalist populist backlash against neoliberal technocracy. Instead, we argue that answers to contemporary European challenges must focus on improving social quality and democracy.

Keywords

BrexitEuropean social modelpopulismsocial dimensionsocial quality
Type
Themed Section: European Social Policy and Society after Brexit: Neoliberalism, Populism, and Social Quality
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 93 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alcock, P., Erskine, A. and May, M. (eds) (1998) The Student's Companion to Social Policy, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Antonucci, L., Horvath, L., Kutiyski, Y. and Krouwel, A. (2017) ‘The malaise of the squeezed middle: challenging the narrative of the “left behind” Brexiter’, Competition and Change, 21, 3, 211–29.Google Scholar
Balorda, J. (2018) ‘Denmark: the rise of fascism and the decline of the Nordic model’, Social Policy and Society, doi: 10.1017/S1474746418000416.Google Scholar
Beck, W., Van der Maesen, L. and Walker, A. (eds) (1998) The Social Quality of Europe, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Beck, W., Van der Maesen, L. J. G., Thomese, F. and Walker, A. (eds.) (2001) Social Quality: A Vision for Europe, London: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
Beresford, P. (2016) All Our Welfare: Towards Participatory Social Policy, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Beresford, P. and Carr, S. (eds.) (2018) Social Policy First Hand: An International Introduction to Participatory Social Welfare, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, J. (2004) ‘Dissolving the public realm? The logics and limits of neo-liberalism’, Journal of Social Policy, 33, 1, 27–48.Google Scholar
Clarke, H. D., Goodwin, M. and Whiteley, P. (2017) Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European Union, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Clegg, D. (2017) ‘Brexit, the UK labour market and the lessons for Social Europe’, in Vanhercke, B., Sabato, S. and Bouget, D. (eds.), Social Policy in the European Union: State of Play 2017, 18th Annual Report, Brussels: ETUI, 33–49.Google Scholar
des Sages, Comité (1996) For a Europe of Civic and Social Rights, Brussels: EC.Google Scholar
Cooper, V. and Whyte, D. (2017) ‘Introduction: the violence of austerity’, in Cooper, V. and Whyte, D. (eds.), The Violence of Austerity, London: Pluto Press, 1–31.Google Scholar
Copeland, P. and Daly, M. (2015) ‘Social Europe: from “add-on” to “dependence-upon” economic integration’, in Crespy, A. and Menz, G. (eds.), Social Policy and the Euro Crisis: Quo Vadis Social Europe, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 140–60.Google Scholar
Corbett, S. (2016) ‘The Social consequences of Brexit for the UK and Europe’, International Journal of Social Quality, 6, 1, 11–31.Google Scholar
Corbett, S. and Walker, A. (2013) ‘The Big Society: rediscovery of the social or rhetorical fig-leaf for neo-liberalism?’, Critical Social Policy, 33, 3, 453–74.Google Scholar
Corbett, S. and Walker, A. (2017) ‘Putting “the social” back into social policy’, in Atkinson, R., Mckenzie, L. and Winlow, S. (eds.), Building Better Societies: Promoting Social Justice in a World Falling Apart, Bristol: Policy Press, 111–24.Google Scholar
Crouch, C. (2016) The Knowledge Corrupters: Hidden Consequences of the Financial Takeover of Public Life, Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Daly, M. (2018) ‘The Implications of the departure of the UK for EU social policy’, Social Policy and Society, doi: 10.1017/S1474746418000374.Google Scholar
Deeming, C. (2016) ‘Rethinking social policy and society’, Social Policy and Society, 15, 2, 159–75.Google Scholar
Dennison, J. and Carl, N. (2016) ‘The ultimate causes of Brexit: history, culture and geography,’ Democratic Audit, 18 July, http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/explaining-brexit/ [accessed 09.08.2018].Google Scholar
Dorling, D. (2016) ‘Editorial: Brexit: the decision of a divided country’, BMJ, 354, doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i3697.Google Scholar
Eichenberg, R. C. and Dalton, R. J. (2007) ‘Post-Maastricht blues: the transformation of citizen support for European integration, 1973–2004’, Acta Politica, 42, 128–52.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1999) The Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ferge, Z. (1998) ‘A central European perspective on the social quality of Europe’, in Beck, W., Van der Maesen, L. and Walker, A. (eds.), The Social Quality of Europe, Bristol: Policy Press, 187–206.Google Scholar
Forster, A. (2002) Euroscepticism in Contemporary British Politics: Opposition to Europe in the British Conservative and Labour Parties Since 1945, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fraser, N. (2017) ‘Progressive neoliberalism versus reactionary populism: a Hobson's choice’, in Geiselberger, H. (ed.), The Great Regression, Cambridge: Polity, 40–8.Google Scholar
Gifford, C. (2008) The Making of Eurosceptic Britain: Identity and Economy in a Post-Imperial State, Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Goodwin, M. and Heath, O. (2016) ‘Brexit vote explained: poverty, low skills and lack of opportunities’, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 31 August, https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/brexit-vote-explained-poverty-low-skills-and-lack-opportunities [accessed 09.08.2018].Google Scholar
Gough, I. (1998) ‘Social aspects of the European model and its economic consequences’, in Beck, W., Van der Maesen, L. and Walker, A. (eds.), The Social Quality of Europe, Bristol: Policy Press, 89–108.Google Scholar
Grimshaw, D. and Rubery, J. (2012) ‘The end of the UK's liberal collectivist social model? The implications of the Coalition Government's policy during the austerity crisis’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 36, 105–26.Google Scholar
Gumbrell-McCormick, R. and Hyman, R. (2017) ‘What about the workers? The implications of Brexit for British and European labour’, Competition and Change, 21, 3,169–84.Google Scholar
Harrison, M. and Sanders, T. (eds.) (2015) Social Policies and Social Control: New Perspectives on the ‘Not-So-Big Society ’, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Hermann, C. (2017) ‘Crisis, structural reform and the dismantling of European Social Model(s)’, Economic and Industrial Democracy, 38, 1, 51–68.Google Scholar
Hermann, C. and Hofbauer, I. (2007) ‘The European social model: between competitive modernisation and neoliberal resistance’, Capital and Class, 93, 125–39.Google Scholar
Hermann, C. and Mahnkopf, B. (2010) ‘Still a future for the European Social Model?’, Global Labour Journal, 1, 3, 314–30.Google Scholar
Hill, M. (2003) Understanding Social Policy, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. F. and Norris, P. (2016) ‘Trump, Brexit, and the rise of populism: economic have-nots and cultural backlash’, Faculty Research Working Paper Series: RWP16-026, Harvard University, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2818659 [accessed 16.08.2018].Google Scholar
Ishkanian, A. (2018) ‘Social movements, Brexit, and social policy’, Social Policy and Society, doi: 10.1017/S1474746418000404.Google Scholar
Jones, B. and O'Donnell, M. (2017) ‘The European Union and the UK: neoliberalism, nationalist populism, or a cry for democracy?’, in Jones, B. and O'Donnell, M. (eds.), Alternatives to Neoliberalism: Towards Equality and Democracy, Bristol: Policy Press, 117–37.Google Scholar
Jordan, B. (2006) What's Wrong with Social Policy and How to Fix it, Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Kaufmann, E. (2016) ‘It's NOT the economy, stupid: Brexit as a story of personal values’, LSE British Politics and Policy Blog, 7 July, http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/personal-values-brexit-vote/ [accessed 09.08.2018].Google Scholar
Kilkey, M. (2017) ‘Conditioning family-life at the intersection of migration and welfare: the implications for “Brexit families”’, Journal of Social Policy, 46, 4, 797–814.Google Scholar
Klein, N. (2017) No is not Enough: Defeating the New Shock Politics, St Ives: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
Leconte, C. (2010) Understanding Euroscepticism, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lux, J. (2018) ‘Understanding the crisis symptoms of representative democracy: the new European economic governance and France's ‘political crisis’’, Social Policy and Society, doi: 10.1017/S1474746418000386.Google Scholar
Mckenzie, L. (2017) ‘“It's not ideal”: reconsidering “anger” and “apathy” in the Brexit vote among an invisible working class’, Competition and Change, 21, 3, 199–210.Google Scholar
Mendoza, K. (2014) Austerity: The Demolition of the Welfare State and the Rise of the Zombie Economy, Oxford: New Internationalist Publications.Google Scholar
Müller, J-W. (2016) What is Populism?, Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press.Google Scholar
Nölke, A. (2017) ‘Brexit: towards a new global phase of organized capitalism?’, Competition and Change, 21, 3, 230–41.Google Scholar
Phillips, D. (2006) Quality of Life: Concept, Policy and Practice, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Phillips, D. (2011) ‘The individual and the social: a comparative study of quality of life, social quality and human development approaches’, International Journal of Social Quality, 1, 1, 71–89.Google Scholar
Reflection Group of the European Commission (1995) Report, Brussels: EC, SN 520/95.Google Scholar
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2016) ‘Study shows that majority of press coverage in EU referendum campaign was heavily skewed in favour of Brexit in first two months of campaign’, University of Oxford, 20 May, https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/risj-review/study-shows-majority-press-coverage-eu-referendum-campaign-was-heavily-skewed-favour [accessed 09.08.2018].Google Scholar
Sayer, A. (2011) Why Things Matter to People: Social Science, Values and Ethical Life, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Taggart, P. (2004) ‘Populism and representative politics in contemporary Europe’, Journal of Political Ideologies, 9, 3, 269–88.Google Scholar
Taylor-Gooby, P. and Stoker, G. (2011) ‘The Coalition Programme: a new vision for Britain or politics as usual?’, The Political Quarterly, 82, 1, 4–15.Google Scholar
Titmuss, R. M. (1963) Essays on the Welfare State, London: Unwin.Google Scholar
Van der Maesen, L. and Walker, A. (2012) Social Quality: From Theory to Indicators, Houndmills: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Vanhercke, B., Sabato, S. and Bouget, D. (2017) ‘Conclusions: social policy in the EU: high hopes but low yields’, in Vanhercke, B., Sabato, S. and Bouget, D. (eds.), Social Policy in the European Union: State of Play 2017, 18th Annual Report, Brussels: ETUI, 201–14.Google Scholar
Vaughan-Whitehead, D. (2015) ‘The European Social Model in times of crisis: an overview’, in Vaughan-Whitehead, D. (ed.), The European Social Model in Crisis: Is Europe Losing its Soul?, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar and International Labour Organization, 1–65.Google Scholar
Walker, A. (1984) Social Planning, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Walker, A. (2005) ‘Which way for the European social model: minimum standards or social quality?’, in Andersen, J. Goul, Guillemard, A., Jensen, P. and Pfau-Effinger, B. (eds.), The Changing Force of Welfare, Bristol: Policy Press, 33–54.Google Scholar
Walker, A. (2009) ‘The social quality approach: bridging Asia and Europe’, Development and Society, 38, 2, 209–35.Google Scholar
Walker, A. and Corbett, S. (2018) ‘The post-Brexit declaration on social quality in Europe’, Social Policy and Society, doi: 10.1017/S1474746418000350.Google Scholar
Whitfield, D. (2001) Public Services or Corporate Welfare: Rethinking the Nation State in the Global Economy, London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Whyman, P. B., Baimbridge, M. and Mullen, A. (2012) The Political Economy of the European Social Model, Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wincott, D. (2003) ‘The idea of the European Social Model: limits and paradoxes of Europeanization’, in Featherstone, K. and Radaelli, C. (eds.), The Politics of Europeanization, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 279–302.Google Scholar
Winlow, S., Hall, S. and Treadwell, J. (2017) The Rise of the Right: English Nationalism and the Transformation of Working-Class Politics, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar