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Solidarity Economy in an Era of Austeria
Molly Scott CatoProfessor of Strategy and Sustainability
University of RoehamptonGreen Party Economics Speaker
State Solidarity or Political Austerity?
• A significant difference between the UK and Latin American societies is that demands have for higher standards of welfare and employment have been expressed through a well developed public sector since WWII.
• Much of our focus has been on defending our payments for children, the unemployed, the sick and the retired, and defending our national health service.
‘British Social Attitudes survey: public opinion 'more right-wing' than under Thatcher’--Telegraph
• In the 27th annual report, researchers quizzed some 3,421 people at the end of 2009
• The study found widespread concerns over the income gap in Britain but an “apparent mismatch” between concerns over inequality and support for redistribution of wealth.
• Asked why some people were “in need”, 26 per cent said they were lazy and 38 per cent said inequality was simply an inevitable consequence of modern life.
• Only 57 per cent of people said the Government was responsible for reducing inequality – compared with 64 per cent two decades ago – and just 36 per cent said the Government should redistribute income.
Three examples of undermining of universalism
• Withdrawal of child benefit from higher earners;
• Suggestion that older generations should fund their own grandchildren through university, while huge fees are introduced;
• ‘Universal credit’ that is anything but—tightened eligibility criteria, return of ‘deserving vs. undeserving’ distinction and more payments to men.
My Society’s Bigger than Yours
• Membership of civil society organisations?• ‘Do it yourself’ welfare actually leaves the
space open for the growth of solidarity economies
• But . . . We are also supposed to be working longer hours and enjoying higher standards of living
We have always been a ‘friendly society’
• Defence of the welfare state and NHS• Political and grass-roots responses to climate
change: 60% target and Transition Towns• Revival of co-operatives and mutuals
A society ‘in transition’?
• Global first in setting 60% targets for carbon dioxide emissions
• Most activity currently at grassroots level• The ‘spitfire myth’
Transition Towns
• Resilience: ‘the property of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically and then, upon unloading to have this energy recovered.’
• Ecological citizenship: intrinsic and ethical motivations towards protecting the environment
• Critique: the importance of political economy
Find out more
www.greeneconomist.org
gaianeconomics.blogspot.com
Green Economics: AnIntroduction to Theory, Policy and Practice (Earthscan, 2009)
Environment and Economy(Routledge, 2011)
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