Commercialisation or Citizenship?
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9256.2004.00222.x |
| Author | Rajiv Prabhakar |
| Published date | 01 September 2004 |
| Date | 01 September 2004 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
© Political Studies Association, 2004.
Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA
Commercialisation or Citizenship?
Rajiv Prabhakar
London School of Economics
In a recent pamphlet for the Fabian Society, Colin Crouch criticises the use of commercial tech-
niques such as choice within public services. He does this because he says that commercialisation
undermines citizenship. In this article, I question Crouch’s claim by arguing that careful use of
some commercial methods, in particular choice, might actually promote the sort of participative
citizenship that he endorses. This discussion has a bearing on an important set of contemporary
policy debates.
Introduction
The reform of public services is central to Labour’s current domestic agenda (Labour
Party 2001). One of the facets of Labour’s proposals centres on the use of tech-
niques historically associated with the private realm within public services. For
example, Prime Minister Tony Blair argues that ‘choice is an important principle
for our reform programme. We need more choice – not only between public service
suppliers, but also within each public service’ (Blair, 2002, p. 28). This attention
paid to these techniques has provoked a good deal of critical commentary. In a
recent pamphlet for the Fabian Society, for example, Colin Crouch argues that the
commercialisation of public services currently being undertaken by Labour is a
threat to citizenship.
In this article, I examine critically the arguments put forward by Crouch in his
Fabian Society pamphlet. It is useful to focus on Crouch because he offers one of
the most developed critiques currently available of the policy of encouraging fea-
tures such as choice within public services. Much of the recent commentary on
Blair’s approach focuses on the contribution or otherwise that private sector
methods bring in delivering value-for-money gains to public services. Crouch says
that while efficiency arguments are important, it is also valuable to examine the
impact that such policies have on citizenship. It is worthwhile to study Crouch
because he offers an interesting perspective on debates about public service reform
and he has made a major contribution to our understanding of these issues.
Throughout this article, I shall focus on Crouch’s general critique of commerciali-
sation rather than his specific criticisms of Labour because this is the main thrust
and most important aspect of his argument. I argue that while Crouch’s argument
possesses a number of strengths, it also has a series of limitations. My principal
criticism is that Crouch unfairly tars all the different aspects of commercialisation
with the same brush. Although Crouch raises valid concerns about the adverse
impact on citizenship of some dimensions of commercialisation, it is not clear that
this applies to all the facets of commercialisation that he identifies. In making this
claim, it is incumbent upon me to demonstrate a way in which commercial tech-
POLITICS: 2004 VOL 24(3), 215–220
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