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New Labour, work and the family

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 06:44 authored by Stephen Driver, Luke MartellLuke Martell
New Labour has put support for the family at the core of its notion of the 'strong community'. Across a range of policy areas the Labour government can be seen to be developing a direct and explicit family policy. But what kind of community is the government trying to shape by these policies? On the one hand, Labour appears to support the family as the basis of a more moral, dutiful and cohesive community. On the other hand, the government has given weight to policies that support social inclusion in the community through paid work. This paper examines whether there is a tension in Labour's social policies between its emphasis on the importance of stable family life and the primacy given to paid work. Are critics like Ruth Levitas right when they argue that the government's emphasis on paid work devalues, and is unsupportive of, unpaid work, especially caring for children and other family members? Alternatively, can this combination of communitarianisms, community as 'stable family' and community as 'paid work', be seen to be marking out some 'third way' on the family? We shall show that different aspects of the government's family policies reflect different perspectives and policy agendas within New Labour and third-way thinking more broadly. And while recognizing the tensions between work and the family, we shall suggest that they are often overstated and fail to give sufficient weight to the complementary aspects of Labour's welfare reforms.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Social Policy and Administration

ISSN

0144-5596

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

1

Volume

36

Page range

46-61

Pages

16.0

Department affiliated with

  • Sociology and Criminology Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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