new right

• Believed that the economic system worked best when it was based on a free market.
• Stratification


  An inevitable part of all societies
• A society based on social equality would only be possible if considerable force were used, to ensure that everyone did their jobs to the best of their abilities because they wouldn't be motivated by economic rewards
• Legal equality


  Everyone enjoys legal equality
• Equality of opportunity


  Everyone has an equal opportunity to take part in the competition
• Equality of outcomes


  Everyone being rewarded in the same way whether they deserve it or not
• Saunders rejects equality of outcomes
• Saunders argues a degree of inequality is desirable & functional in order to motivate people to compete
• Saunders is critical of attempts of left-wing governments to try & equalise society
• Critics of Saunders


  Argue it is mistaken to assume that capitalist societies based on the free market necessarily offer individuals more freedom than socialist or communist societies which seek to make people equal.
• Underclass - Murray


  A group of people trapped at the bottom of society, dependent on welfare benefits and not motivated to better themselves
• Government policies providing welfare benefits - Murray

  Creating a dependency culture where poor people have no motivation to improve their situation
• Dependency culture - Murray


  Results in the creation of an underclass
• Underclass - Murray


  • A drain on taxpayers paying for their benefits
  • Tend to poorly socialise their children, meaning they generally underachieve at school and turn to crime
• Rising rates of births outside marriage, crime and youth unemployment - Murray


  Signs that the irresponsible attitudes found in the underclass are infecting certain neighbourhoods in the UK
• Evaluation of Murray


  Studies of poor people tend to suggest only a minority have the kind of attitudes described by Murray as typical of the underclass. Most people on benefits want to work & earn a decent living. Unclear who exactly is responsible for the alleged problems created by the underclass - sometimes Murray blames groups such as the unemployed & lone parents, other times he blames the welfare state encouraging this kind of behaviour by giving benefits.
• Murray only focuses on those at the bottom end of society, the poorest. He makes no connection between the wider pattern of social class inequality & the growing gap between the rich & the poor .
• Marxist & Weberian criticisms of New Right


  Argue that it is the working of the capitalist system that leads to poverty & inequality. Blaming the poor for their own poverty is simply blaming the victims of the system.