A Neoliberal Revolution?: Thatcherism and the Reform of British Pensions

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Hugh Pemberton Dr James Freeman (Lecturer in Digital Humanities, University of Bristol)

A Neoliberal Revolution?

Thatcherism and the Reform of British Pensions

Hugh Pemberton, Dr James Freeman (Lecturer in Digital Humanities, University of Bristol), Dr Aled Davies (Career Development Fellow in Modern History, Jesus College, University of Oxford)

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Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Manchester University Press
01 August 2024

Central government; Welfare economics; Pensions

This book examines the Thatcher government's attempt to revolutionise Britain's pensions system in the 1980s and create a nation of risk-taking savers with an individual stake in capitalism.

Drawing upon recently-released archival records, it shows how the ideas motivating these reforms journeyed from the writings of neoliberal intellectuals into government and became the centrepiece of a plan to abolish significant parts of the UK's welfare state and replace these with privatised personal pensions. Revealing a government that veered between political caution and radicalism, the book explains why this revolution failed and charts the malign legacy left by the evolutionary changes that ministers salvaged from the wreckage of their reforms.

The book contributes to understanding of policy change, Thatcherism, and international neoliberalism by showing how major reforms to social security could reflect neoliberal thought and yet profoundly disappoint their architects.

By: Hugh Pemberton, Dr James Freeman (Lecturer in Digital Humanities, University of Bristol), Dr Aled Davies (Career Development Fellow in Modern History, Jesus College, University of Oxford)
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781526146526
ISBN 10: 1526146525
Pages: 416
Publication Date: 01 August 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Aled Davies is Departmental and College Lecturer in Modern British History at St. John's College, University of Oxford. James Freeman is Senior Lecturer in Political History and Digital Humanities at the University of Bristol. Hugh Pemberton is Emeritus Professor of Contemporary British History at the University of Bristol.