Citizen-Consumers and Public Service Reform: At the Limits of Neoliberalism?

Clarke, John

doi:10.2304/pfie.2007.5.2.239

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Interestingly, the more radical cohorts of any service user movement would find themselves critical of simple consumerism, but opportunistically taking advantage of policy initiatives to more assertively take up a place in the public sphere (Deber et al 2005, Clarke 2007, Cowden & Singh 2007. The working out of such developments in the higher education sector is arguably in tension with more progressive developments in public engagement.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Service user involvement in practitioner education: Movement politics and transformative change

McKeown

Dix

Jones³

et al. 2014

Nurse Education Today

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This paper will attempt to both celebrate key developments and best practice involving the users of health and social care services in programmes of practitioner education in a UK context, and offer a critical appraisal of the extent to which such initiatives meet some of the more transformative objectives sought by service users activists for change. The approach is largely that of a discussion paper but we illustrate some of the themes relating to movement activism with selected data. These data relate to earlier research and two specially convened focus groups within the Comensus initiative at the University of Central Lancashire; itself constituted as piece of participatory action research. We conclude that universities represent paradoxical sites for the facilitation of debate and learning relevant to key issues of social justice and change. As such, they are places that can impede or support movement aims. Particular strategic responses might be more likely to engender progressive outcomes. These ought to include the presence of critically engaged academic staff operating within a scholarly culture that fosters forms of deliberative democratic decision making.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Service user involvement in practitioner education: Movement politics and transformative change

McKeown

Dix

Jones³

et al. 2014

Nurse Education Today

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“…The problem stream in this instance comprises a series of problematisations regarding 'fragmentation' of government service delivery. If one embraces NPM discourse and regards the service user as a 'customer', fragmentation leads to 'inconvenience' and 'dissatisfaction' ( Clarke 2007 ;Dutil et al 2008 ). If the service user is an entrepreneur seeking approval to start a business or develop natural resources, fragmentation leads in neoliberal discourse to 'red tape' and 'economic burdens', as multifaceted regulatory approval processes slow and discourage investment ( Ongaro 2004 ).…”

Section: Drivers Of Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting one-stop-shops into practice: A systematic review of the drivers of government service integration

Howard¹

2017

Evidence Base

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One-stop-shops (OSSs) are not a recent invention, but they are currently popular as governments attempt to address complaints about fragmentation in public service delivery. OSSs often struggle with multiple implementation problems. This review assesses ten years of research into government one-stop-shops, and seeks to determine drivers and barriers relevant to the adoption and implementation of OSSs in the public sector. OSS reforms are frequently promoted as win-win solutions, allegedly delivering seamless service at lower cost. Such promises are appealing to political decision makers, but typically understate the complexities, costs and risks of the OSS approach. When the time comes for implementation, managers often struggle with unrealistic political and citizen expectations, turf conflicts, inadequate resources, and dilemmas relating to the need for administrative specialisation. OSSs tend to be more successful where the goal of seamless service is pursued gradually, with sufficient resources, and where implementers address trade-offs between integration and specialisation.

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“…Clarke has examined how New Labour has used the language of binary opposition to suggest social change, progress and modernisation (Clarke, 2007a(Clarke, , 2007b. For example, New Labour tries to distance itself from an old regime (Keynesian) of collective public services and aligns itself with the new regime (neoliberalism) with its emphasis on the individual and citizen consumer.…”

Section: Modernity and The Use Of Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The core themes associated with these "transformist discourses" proposed by neoliberalists involve citizen-consumerism, diversity, choice, empowerment, the rise of the expert-user (Clarke, 2007a) and are also linked to wider ideologies surrounding what Giddens calls the "third way politics" of New Labour and the critical framework based on "new public philosophy" (Buschman, 2003). Furthermore, Buschman argues that public libraries are the embodiment of Habermas's classical definition of the public sphere (Buschman, 2005), which is the "sphere of non-governmental opinion-making" in which the economic side of development (at present neoliberalism) dominates (p.3).…”

Section: Modernity and The Use Of Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Emergence and Impact of Neoliberal Ideology on UK Public Library Policy, 1997–2010

Greene¹,

McMenemy²

2012

Library and Information Science Trends and Research: Europe

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Over the last thirty years, the globalisation of neoliberal ideology has been pervasive and all encompassing. The chapter uses a mixed methods approach by combining content and discourse analysis to examine how neoliberal discourses have impacted on public librarianship. Since New Labour's election in 1997 public service restructuring in the United Kingdom has taken on a more oblique managerialist and consumerist approach. The impact of managerialism in the public library service has focused mainly on modernising and improving services to the individual user, and is based on scenarios where public libraries have to model themselves on the private sector, and where managers have been empowered over professionals. The wider shift away from collectivist service provision to more personalised and individualised forms of consumption are also explored, which is epitomised by the rise of the citizen consumer. The growing concern with the transformation of professional library language and the adoption of neoliberal doctrine is examined. Moreover, the rhetorical use of language and strategies to justify change and transformation are examined and also how at times there has been an "unquestioning" acceptance of neoliberalism by some public librarians (McMenemy, 2009b;Buschman, 2005).

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Citizen-Consumers and Public Service Reform: At the Limits of Neoliberalism?

Cited by 34 publications

References 8 publications

Service user involvement in practitioner education: Movement politics and transformative change

Service user involvement in practitioner education: Movement politics and transformative change

Putting one-stop-shops into practice: A systematic review of the drivers of government service integration

The Emergence and Impact of Neoliberal Ideology on UK Public Library Policy, 1997–2010

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