New Labour: A Study in Ideology

Abstract

A common view of ideologies reifies them to postulate an unchanging core of moral principles or debates that frame changing attitudes to particular policies. Thus, scholars have sought to map New Labour onto ideological traditions by comparing it with the core features of the traditions. In contrast, this article argues that ideologies are in a constant process of change, with every one of their elements being open to such change, and with change in one element having spillover effects on others. New Labour should not be compared with reified ideologies but rather traced historically as a refashioning of socialism to meet problems such as inflation, the underclass and the changing nature of the working class, where the consequent changes in policy have entailed further changes in ethical principles.