Introduction

So far, this book has charted the development and progression of structural-functionalism from the early musings of Talcott Parsons to the communitarianism of Amitai Etzioni. It has also taken note of the complementary and, indeed, compatible discourses such as those surrounding the ‘underclass’ debate characterised by Charles Murray, Lawrence Mead and David Ellwood. Mixed in with all of this has been a discussion of the work of John Macmurray who, in the view of Hale (2002), can be described as Tony Blair’s self-declared guru that never was. And with this work it has been possible to glean the dominant influence of communitarianism – as opposed to Macmurray’s egalitarian musings – on the policies and thoughts of Tony Blair and New Labour. With the exception of Macmurray (and perhaps Charles Murray’s more distressing analysis), it has become apparent throughout that most of these differing viewpoints share a common view of capitalism. In particular, they see capitalism as a motivational benign hierarchy that is best suited to promote prosperous and harmonious human relations. In sum, we have begun to unravel the entangled web of complementary ideas that underpin the functionalism behind the policies of New Labour.

In this chapter, the process of discovery takes a step further. Initially, the chapter discusses the ‘third way’ and how it represents a clear manifestation of communitarian beliefs. By implication, this also represents another demonstration of New Labour’s functionalism. Later, it addresses New Labour’s penchant to give primacy to the concept of ‘equality of opportunity’. As will become apparent, this is also premised upon visions of a benevolent arena of competition in an equally benign social hierarchy. Again, this reflects an underlying reliance upon functionalist trains of thought. Finally, this chapter will begin to reveal the actual policy realisations arising out of these deliberations. Most prominently, it will introduce the reasoning behind the work oriented New Deal schemes and cement them within the context of ‘Blair’s communitarianisms’. In so doing, the ground is thus laid open for Chapter Seven’s concluding discussion of the possible pitfalls that may beset such schemes.

Anthony Giddens and the ‘third way’ to a better Society

Any discussion of New Labour would not be complete without a mention of Anthony Giddens.