Social Citizenship in the Shadow of Competition

Social Citizenship in the Shadow of Competition explores how economic concepts and tools are reshaping regulatory law. Building on studies that link law - both institutionally and discursively - to the legitimation of economic neo-liberalism, the book charts lawmakers' attempts to justify social welfare regulation in the language imposed by economic theory. It presents new qualitative findings from an ambitious regulatory reform programme targeting over 1,700 pieces of legislation. Bronwen Morgan argues that the interplay between economic discourse and lawmaking does not destroy the possibility of social citizenship; however, the subsequent regulatory conversations frequently silence or weaken the claims of vulnerable groups. Thus, even when vulnerable groups secure instrumental success, economic conceptions of bureaucratic rationality impoverish their capacity to express certain kinds of intangible values and aspirations. To expand or retain social citizenship requires that we learn to conceive of what matters in political economy without relying on the logic of utility or other instrumental rationalities.

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