New localism, old retrenchment: the Big Society, housing policy and the politics of housing reform

Manzi, T. and Jacobs, K. 2013. New localism, old retrenchment: the Big Society, housing policy and the politics of housing reform. Housing, Theory and Society. 30 (1), pp. 29-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2012.683293

TitleNew localism, old retrenchment: the Big Society, housing policy and the politics of housing reform
AuthorsManzi, T. and Jacobs, K.
Abstract

This article considers the ideology underpinning the 2010 UK Government’s welfare reform agenda in order to foreground what we see as the contradictions of new localism and the ‘Big Society’ programme as it relates to housing policy. The article has three sections. It begins by discussing some of the methodological challenges that arise in interpreting contemporary policy and the value of an historically informed approach to understand the wider ‘politics’ underpinning the ‘Big Society’ programme. To support our argument, the second part of the article traces the ‘localist’ agenda (mainly focused on England and Wales) back from the 1960s to the defeat of Labour in the 2010 general election to show how both Conservative and Labour administrations deployed localism as a justification for welfare reform and in the process created opportunities to extend the marketisation of social policy. The third section of the article considers the contemporary period, in particular reforms presented to parliament in 2011 that, if enacted, will provide new avenues for powerful interest groups to influence decisions that hitherto have been mainly the preserve of local government. The conclusion provides a summary of the key policy implications and theoretical issues that arise from the analysis.

KeywordsBig Society
Localism
Housing Reform
JournalHousing, Theory and Society
Journal citation30 (1), pp. 29-45
ISSN1403-6096
Year2013
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Accepted author manuscript
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2012.683293
Web address (URL)http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2012.683293
Publication dates
Published18 May 2012

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