Introduction

Current policy responses to the economic crisis are mobilising social forces, including social work, in a divisive and authoritarian project against those most vulnerable. In the field of child protection, as indeed in other areas of welfare, the roots of current policies are to be found in those of previous New Labour administrations, but the trends pre-date them. From the late 1970s onwards, the doctrines of Reagan and Thatcher became dominant, promoting the virtues of letting the market rule in a triumph of neoliberalism. Although we recognise the term neoliberal is not a satisfactory one, as it is reductive, lumping together too many things, sacrificing attention to internal complexities and lacking in geo-historical specificity, we agree with Hall (2011) that there are enough common features to warrant using it.

Across a range of countries, deregulation, privatisation and withdrawal of the state from many areas of social provision became common, transcending welfare regime typologies and encompassing states established after the collapse of the Soviet Union through to social democracies such as Sweden and New Zealand. A common feature across diverse systems was a rise in inequalities. In this context, it is important to note that from the late 19th century until the 1970s, the advanced societies of the West were becoming more equal. However, as Judt (2010: 13) noted, over the past 30 years ‘we have thrown all this away’. This was not accidental, it was part of a determined political project.