The New Right

The New Right is a conservative political and sociological perspective that became influential in the 1980s, particularly in the United States under President Reagan and in the United Kingdom under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. While not a sociological theory in the same sense as functionalism or Marxism, the New Right has had a significant impact on social policy and on sociological debates about the family, welfare, education, and inequality. For AQA A-Level Sociology, understanding the New Right is essential for evaluating perspectives on social institutions and social problems.

Key Definition: The New Right is a conservative perspective that combines a commitment to free-market economics with traditional moral values. It argues that excessive state intervention undermines individual responsibility, weakens the family, and creates a culture of welfare dependency.

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Intellectual Roots

The New Right draws on two main intellectual traditions:

1. Neo-liberalism — an economic philosophy that advocates free markets, minimal government regulation, privatisation, and individual enterprise. Neo-liberals argue that the state should not interfere in the economy or provide extensive welfare services, as this stifles competition and creates inefficiency.

2. Neo-conservatism — a social philosophy that emphasises traditional values, authority, discipline, and the importance of established institutions (particularly the family, religion, and the nation). Neo-conservatives argue that social order depends on strong moral values and that the decline of traditional institutions has led to rising crime, family breakdown, and social disorder.

The tension between these two strands — economic freedom and social conservatism — is one of the defining features of New Right thought.

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Charles Murray and the Underclass Thesis

Charles Murray (1943–) is one of the most influential and controversial New Right thinkers. His work on the underclass has had a profound impact on debates about poverty, welfare, and family structure.

The Underclass

In Losing Ground (1984) and The Emerging British Underclass (1990), Murray argued that a new social class — the underclass — had emerged at the bottom of society. This underclass was not simply poor; it was characterised by distinctive patterns of behaviour:

• Illegitimacy: High rates of births outside marriage, leading to fatherless families.
• Criminality: High rates of crime, particularly among young men.
• Economic inactivity: Unwillingness to work, even when jobs were available.

Causes: The Welfare State

Murray argued that the growth of the welfare state was the primary cause of the underclass. Generous welfare benefits, he claimed, had created perverse incentives:

• Young women were incentivised to have children outside marriage because they could claim benefits as single mothers, rather than needing the economic support of a husband.
• Young men were disincentivised from working because benefits provided a comfortable alternative to employment.
• The welfare state had eroded the traditional family by making marriage economically unnecessary.

In Murray's view, the welfare state had created a dependency culture — a set of values and attitudes in which people expect the state to provide for them rather than taking personal responsibility for their own well-being.

Murray's Policy Prescriptions

Murray advocated significant cuts to welfare provision, arguing that reducing benefits would force people to find work, marry, and take responsibility for their families. He also supported the reinstatement of social stigma against illegitimacy and welfare dependency.

Key Definition: Dependency culture is a set of values and beliefs, said to exist among the long-term poor, in which people become accustomed to relying on state benefits rather than supporting themselves through employment.

Evaluation (AO3):

• Murray's underclass thesis has been widely criticised by sociologists across the political spectrum.
• Structural explanations of poverty (offered by Marxists and social democrats) argue that the underclass is not a product of individual failings or welfare dependency but of structural factors such as deindustrialisation, low wages, discrimination, and lack of affordable housing.
• Feminist critics argue that Murray pathologises single mothers and blames women for social problems created by male irresponsibility and economic inequality.
• Murray's use of the term "underclass" has been criticised for stigmatising the poor and diverting attention from the real causes of poverty.
• Research by Dean and Taylor-Gooby (1992) found little evidence of a distinctive "underclass culture" — most welfare recipients wanted to work and did not choose dependency.

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David Marsland (1934–2019)

Marsland was a British New Right sociologist who argued that universal welfare provision — benefits available to everyone, regardless of need — undermined self-reliance, initiative, and personal responsibility.

Key Arguments

• Universal benefits (such as free education and the NHS) create a "nanny state" that discourages people from taking responsibility for their own lives.
• Welfare should be targeted (means-tested) rather than universal, providing support only to those who genuinely cannot help themselves (the elderly, the severely disabled).
• The culture of welfare dependency is transmitted from one generation to the next through socialisation, creating an inter-generational cycle of poverty.