The Divisive Welfare State

An important tradition in social policy writing sees the welfare state as an agent of social cohesion against the divisive conflicts of market capitalism. Social policy in the UK is now developing in a way that directly conflicts with this approach. This may signal the future direction of change in other countries, as crisis and slow growth limit available resources, and governments become increasingly committed to a neo-liberal and consolidation agenda. The 2010 Conservative-led coalition and 2015 Conservative governments in the UK use social policy to exacerbate and embed social divisions as part of a project to achieve permanent cuts in welfare state spending without damaging their own electoral chances. This article reviews the divisive welfare state policies in relation to taxation, benefits for working age people and for immigrants and between pensioners and non-pensioners because these groups cover much of welfare state activity and are currently salient in a way that gives the project political purchase. It goes on to argue that the divisions mask a further neo-liberal long-term project, facilitated by Brexit, of reducing the proportion of national resources going to all recipients of social spending. In this sense, we are all in it together.