Public And Private: The Continuing Crisis Of The British Welfare State

Abstract

This essay reviews the central themes of social policy in Britain in the 1940s and 1980s. It suggests that in both periods the polar extremities of public and private provision have been overdrawn and argues, rather, that the British system has been characterized by a continuing commitment to a mixed economy of welfare. Where the 1980s differs from the 1940s, however, is the point at which the boundary line between the public and the private sector is drawn. The presently increasing privatization of welfare services is shown to have considerable implications for the notion of social costs.