Consumers, clients or citizens? Politics, policy and practice in the reform of social care

Clarke, John (2006). Consumers, clients or citizens? Politics, policy and practice in the reform of social care. European Societies, 8(3) pp. 423–442.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616690600821966

Abstract

In the United Kingdom, New Labour articulated a consumerist view of the relationship between the public and public services. Its view of the citizen-as-consumer was the source of considerable political controversy and debate - both within and beyond public services. In this paper, I explore four aspects of consumerism in relation to social care in the United Kingdom: the political context of the rise of the 'citizen-consumer'; the place of the citizen-consumer in social care policy; the responses of organisations providing social care to consumerist pressures and lastly the impact of consumerism on characteristic tensions in public services.

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