The moral hazards of neo-liberalism: lessons from the private insurance industry

The key tenets of neo-liberalism regarding risk, governance, and responsibility are critically evaluated through an empirical study of the private insurance industry. Recent tendencies in this industry towards increasing segmentation of consumers regarding risk, and towards an expansion of private policing of insurance fraud, are analysed. The definition of moral hazard is broadened to include all parties in the insurance relationship, not just the insured. Moral hazards embedded in the social organization of private insurance lead to various kinds of immoral risky behaviour by insureds, insurance companies, and their employees, and to intensified efforts to regulate this behaviour. The analysis concludes with some critical observations about the neo-liberal emphasis on minimal state, market fundamentalism, risk-taking, individual responsibility, and acceptance of inequality.     

Liberalism,neo-liberalism and governmentality: introduction

This paper concerns the emergence of a specifically 'economic' way of governing poverty at the start of this century, an event which is to be accounted for, though by no means exhaustively, by the discovery of 'unemployment'. The latter will make it possible to relate the nineteenth-century 'problem of the unemployed' to an object domain that is primarily economic, rather than cultural or moral. A new object of regulation will emerge from this economic problematization of the 'social question': the labour market. The paper pays particular attention to the national labour exchange system, the political technology that will visibilize the labour market in new ways. Together with unemployment insurance, it will suggest new ways of governing poverty and a new course for social policy.     

Going South: capitalist crisis,systemic crisis,civilisational crisis

This article argues that the current protracted and severe financial and economic crisis is only one aspect of a larger multidimensional set of simultaneous and interacting crises on a global scale. The article constructs an overarching framework of analysis of this unique conjecture of global crises. The three principal crisis aspects are: an economic crisis of (over) accumulation of capital; a world systemic crisis (which includes a global centre-shift in the locus of production, growth and capital accumulation), and a hegemonic transition (which implies long term changes in global governance structures and institutions); and a worldwide civilisational crisis, situated in the sociohistorical structure itself, encompassing a comprehensive environmental crisis and the consequences of a lack of correspondence and coherence in the material and ideational structures of world order. In these ways, the global system is now `going south'. All three main aspects of the global crisis provoke and require commensurate radical social and political responses and self-protective measures, not only to restore systemic stability but to transform the world system.     

Joint boards for police in the Metropolitan areas: A preliminary assessment

Local Government, The Law and the Constitution, Martin Loughlin, Local Government Legal Society Trust, March 1983, pp. 143, £3.50.

Financing Regional Government: International Practices and their Relevance to the Third World, K.J. Davey, John Wiley, 1983, pp. 193, £12.95.

Housing Law, A. Arden and M. Partington, Sweet and Maxwell, 1983, pp. 1184, £55 (hardback).

The Government of Scotland: Patterns of Influence In Public Policy Making, Michael Keating and Arthur Midwinter, Mainstream Publishing, 1983, pp. 214, £9.95.

From Policy to Practice, Martin Rein, Macmillan, 1983, pp. xv + 250, £18.00 hardback, £6.95 paperback.

Comparative Public Policy: The Politics of Social Choice in Europe and America, 2nd ed., A.J. Heidenheimer, H. Heclo and C. T. Adams, Macmillan, 1983, pp. 367, £15.00 hardback, £5.95 paperback.

Policy and Politics in France: Living with Uncertainty, Douglas E. Ashford, Temple University Press, 1982, pp. 345, $29.95 hardback, $12.95 paperback.

Policy Advice and Organizational Survival, Michael J. Prince, Gower, 1983, pp. 256, £13.50.     

The place of public fear in sentencing and correctional policy

Public opinion about sentencing and correctional issues has emerged in recent decades as a salient topic in criminology. Empirical studies have suggested that the public has dynamic perceptions about these criminal justice issues. Sentencing and correctional policy have become key issues confronting legislators and policymakers, as correctional budgets and public interest in these areas have increased. Despite the focus on public opinion about sentencing and corrections, previous research has largely ignored how the public feels about the role of policymakers regarding these issues, and what influences opinions about whether public fear should be an important consideration in policy decisions. The current study partly replicated the work of Cullen and colleagues by examining perceptions of crime salience, crime causation, goals of the criminal justice system, and attitudes towards imprisonment and rehabilitation. It uniquely examined perceptions about the importance of legislator consideration of a specific determinant, namely, public fear, in decision making about sentencing and correctional policy.     

Youth and parental attitudes toward fighting

Certain parenting behaviors have been linked with youth aggression and violence, but less is known about whether parents' attitudes toward fighting are a risk factor for children's aggressive behavior problems and future injury risk. Social cognitive theory suggests that parents' beliefs about fighting and retaliation may influence their children's attitudes toward fighting and aggression. The authors examined the associations among parental and youth attitudes toward fighting, parent-child relationships, and youth aggressive behavior in adolescents at great risk for future interpersonal violence. Data came from 72 parents and their adolescents (aged 12 to 17 years, 89% African American), who presented to an emergency department for youth's assault-related injuries. Analyses revealed an association between parents' and youth's attitudes toward fighting. Youth's and parents' attitudes were positively correlated with aggressive behavior, fighting, and school suspension. Parents' attitudes predicted youth's aggressive behavior, even after controlling for youth's attitudes. The findings suggest that interventions for high-risk youth should target the fighting-related attitudes of both parents and youth.