Social Change, Values and Political Agency: The Case of the Third Way

The third way is based on both sociological claims about a changed world, and normative propositions about appropriate conduct within that world. Four types of claim concerning the relationship between social change and political values are identified within third way advocacy. In each case, the degree of political agency implied is assessed. This ranges from a position which minimises the room for political interventions in the face of social change, to one which gives primacy to the role of political values. A successful third way project, or alternative, needs not only to be grounded in contemporary social change, but also to show how to steer it.