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Individualism and Inequality
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For Natasha,Adam and Owen in New England
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Individualism and
Inequality
The Future of Work and Politics
RalphFevre
ProfessorofSocialResearch,SchoolofSocialSciences,
CardiffUniversity,UK
Cheltenham,UK+Northampton,MA,USA
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©RalphFevre2016
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina
retrievalsystemortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical
orphotocopying,recording,orotherwisewithoutthepriorpermissionofthe
publisher.
Publishedby
EdwardElgarPublishingLimited
TheLypiatts
15LansdownRoad
Cheltenham
GlosGL502JA
UK
EdwardElgarPublishing,Inc.
WilliamPrattHouse
9DeweyCourt
Northampton
Massachusetts01060
USA
Acataloguerecordforthisbook
isavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016935794
Thisbookisavailableelectronicallyinthe
SocialandPoliticalSciencesubjectcollection
DOI10.4337/9781784716516
ISBN9781784716509(cased)
ISBN9781784716516(eBook)
TypesetbyColumnsDesignXMLLtd,Reading
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Contents
Listoffigures vi
TheModernMessiah vii
Acknowledgements ix
1. Neoliberalismtakesover 1
2. Anti-slaveryandthesecretofhumanrights 20
3. AdamSmithandAmericanindividualism 37
4. Inequality,welfareandthecultivationofcharacter 57
5. Americanideology:millenniumandutopia 72
6. Classesandevolution 88
7. Sowingtheseedsofneoliberalism 109
8. Education,individualismandinequality 126
9. Anintroductiontopeoplemanagement 145
10. From‘stupid’to‘self-actualizing’workers 158
11. Theneoliberalsettlement 172
12. Theapotheosisofindividualismatwork 192
13. Thehiddeninjuriesofcognitiveindividualism 212
14. Insecurity,intensificationandsubordination 234
15. Thefutureofworkandpolitics 250
Bibliography 270
Nameindex 295
Subjectindex 301
v
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Figures
1.1 UKtradeunionmembershipsince1892(thousandsofmembers) 3
1.2 Ageoftradeunionmembers,1995and2014(percentages) 3
1.3 OECDtradeuniondensity,selectedcountries1999–2013
(percentages) 4
2.1 FourwaysofmakingsenseinWesternculture 24
13.1 Thecausesofill-treatmentintheBritishWorkplaceBehaviour
Survey 221
vi
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The Modern Messiah
The cover illustration makes use of a cartoon satirising Oscar Wilde’s
1882AmericanlecturetourandpublishedintheSanFranciscoperiodical
The Wasp. Wilde makes an appearance in Chapter 10 and, like other
Britons discussed in this book – including Adam Smith, Thomas Paine,
Robert Owen and Herbert Spencer – his ideas were influential on both
sides of theAtlantic.The way that these thinkers’ideas were transformed
in the USA is of special interest to the story of individualism since, once
they had been transformed, the ideas helped to shape American history.
They were then re-exported to the UK and other European countries and,
in this way, an American culture of individualism spread across the
globe.
In a curious way, G.F. Keller’s cartoon of Oscar Wilde, titled the
‘Modern Messiah’, exemplified the American transformation of British
ideasaboutindividualism.ThekerneloftruthintheportrayalofWildeas
Christ entering San Francisco on a donkey is that all Wilde had to offer
toAmericans was a system of beliefs. The credulousAmericans pictured
in the cartoon had been bowled over, or pretended to be bowled over, by
what The Wasp considered an arrogant, affected and pretentious attempt
tomakeaestheticsthefocusofpersonalandpubliclife.Wilde’stourtook
place a decade before he published his manifesto for romantic individu-
alism – ‘The Soul of Man under Socialism’(see Chapter 10) – but inThe
Modern Messiah we already have a satirical representation of the artistic
potential of every individual. Every American – from children to portly
businessmen to The Wasp’s customary objects of hate, i.e. members of
the San Francisco Chinese community – is sporting the sunflower which
Wilde chose to symbolize his attempt to elevate human sensibility.
The most scornful element of the cartoon is perhaps Keller’s insinu-
ation – with the addition of a dollar sign to the sunflower Wilde is
holding – that the great artist is himself motivated by the common-sense
end of making money out of the credulousAmericans. In a curious way,
this trope anticipates the way that, in the next century, American
capitalism was able to turn the romantic individualism of Wilde and
others to its own ends. It is worth noting that the sunflowers in Keller’s
cartoon double as advertisements for the cigars sold by the proprietor of
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viii Individualismandinequality
The Wasp and that Keller himself began as an illustrator of cigar boxes.
Later chapters of this book explain how our enthusiasm to be artists in,
and of, our own lives has been transformed into one of the key resources
of neoliberalism. The book argues that the future of work and politics –
and particularly future trends in inequality – will be strongly influenced
by the fate of this culture of individualism.
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Acknowledgements
The time to write this book was provided by Cardiff University in the
form of a research leave fellowship. Later chapters report on research
projects funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the
UK’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. All of the col-
leagues who worked with me on these projects helped me to develop my
thinking, but I am particularly indebted to Amanda Robinson and Theo
Nichols. Indeed, it was from a conversation with Theo that the first idea
forthebookemerged.CurrentcolleaguesatCardiffwhohaveobligedme
to think about the ideas in the book include Finn Bowring and Deborah
Foster. I also owe a debt to all of my students at Cardiff (past and
present) for letting me try out some of these ideas on them, and to Claire
Crawford, Natasha Fevre and Adam Wood who have helped me to think
about the similarities and differences between the USA and the UK.
ix
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