Anthony Crosland

• State


  Societies enjoy steady expansion of the welfare state to diminish inequality and advance socialism

  Stat now owned parts of society where capitalism proved problematic

  Against Clause IV - obsolete and should be repealed on both electoral and ideological grounds

  Welfare state - to mitigate poverty and inequality
• Human nature

  • rational and social
  • capable of cooperation for mutual benefit
  • individuals seek a balance between personal fulfilment and collective welfare, emphasising the role of social justice in modern society
• Society

  • human beings are essentially collectivist and want to live together and solve issues collectively
  • hesitant to seek to disrupt social systems
• State

  • mixed economy where state plays an active role in regulating markets and providing public services
  • sees the state as a facilitator of social welfare, workers rights, trade union protections
  • used to humanise capitalism and use it to help close inequalities
• Economy

  • wealth redistribution to achieve equality of opportunity and outcome
  • Keynesian style managed economy and using public investment towards social progress rather than common ownership
  • state should play a role in creating a fair economy through progressive taxation, universal welfare for all and well funded public services
• Revolution

  • favours reforms over revolution
  • gradual change through democratic process
  • supports revisionist socialism- seeks to improve society through living with and using some social and economic systems
• Class

  • class divisions have been important
  • success of capitalism has meant that class is less important and with rise of a technocratic class than neither owns the means of production nor has to sell its labour alone- the class system
• Examples

  • minimum wage laws- the National Minimum Wage Act 1998- state intervention for social equity
  • public service reforms- Education Reform Act 1988- state balances efficiency with social welfare