Reinventing Civil Society criticises the hard-boiled economic rationalism of the Thatcher years. Thatcherite emphasis on the 'vigorous virtues' of self-sufficiency, energy, and adventurousness was necessary to halt Britain's economic decline, but there was a missing ingredient: the 'civic virtues' of solidarity, service to others, duty and self-sacrifice. "The chief thing this important book does is to show the part which voluntary organisations can play in contemporary societies. David Green...shows with a wealth of historical detail how the spontaneously emerging voluntary organisations of Victorian times...were undermined and virtually eliminated by state-sponsored charity." Professor Lord Skidelsky. "Reinventing Civil Society takes us back to fundamentals. It reminds us that the dispersion of power, rather than material self-interest as such, is the essence of a free-market economy imbued with the idea of liberty. It underlines the connection between liberty and personal responsibility and, therefore, emphasises the moral foundations of a free society...David Green's book is essential reading for those really concerned with social issues." Professor Harold Rose, London Business School. "Thatcherism has been criticised by the Institute of Economic Affairs ...for placing too much emphasis on the economy at the expense of a sense of community." The Times "a new Institute of Economic Affairs paper argues that the self-help ethos of the Thatcher years must now be expanded into a wider concept of civic duty." The Daily Telegraph. "Thatcherism failed to address 'the deeper questions facing any civilisation', a free-market think-tank ...says." The Guardian.

Reinventing civil society: The rediscovery of welfare without politics (Choice in welfare series)

David Green

Civitas:Institute for the Stud

Throughout history there have always been groups seeking to turn the powers of government to their own advantage. Today, one frequently employed strategy is to claim victim status for members of a group, and then insist on "rights" to be guaranteed by the state. However these "rights" are better understood as legally sanctioned privileges which have more in common with the preferments awarded by pre-democracy monarchs to their favourites. The contributors to this book ask if women are really "victims" of a male conspiracy in the workplace and the home, as some feminist critics have claimed. Shackleton and Urwin argue that difference in average earnings between men and women may be attributable to other factors, such as marital status, and that, in some important ways, the labour market today is much tougher for men than it is for women. Erin Pizzey, the founder of the first refuge for women and children who were victims of domestic violence, describes the way in which her standing in the international feminist movement declined when she began to point out that men, as well as women, can be victims of such violence. These essays demonstrate that the group animosity encouraged by the new "victicrats" can never be consistent with an equitable social order. "Single women earn as much as similarly qualified single men, according to research that questions many of the assumptions behind alleged sex inequality at work." The Daily Telegraph

Women or Men - Who Are the Victims? (Civil Society)

Politics & Social Sciences

Erin Pizzey

Social Sciences

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Books by Civitas:Institute for the Stud

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Civitas:Institute for the Stud publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Reinventing civil society: The rediscovery of welfare without politics (Choice in welfare series)

Women or Men - Who Are the Victims? (Civil Society)