09 May 2003
The government's 'consumerist' approach to public services, promoting competition between providers, could alienate the very people they are supposed to serve, a Left-wing think-tank claims.
Catalyst says the increasing emphasis on individual choice and the 'rebranding' of some services – such as foundation hospitals and specialist schools – as elite is eroding the public's identification with these services.
A pamphlet from the organisation, which is chaired by veteran Labour politician Roy Hattersley, argues that the culture of 'consumerism and customer relations' undermines the collective goals on which public services are based.
'Consumerism is a model that prioritises the individual over the community, encourages passivity, downgrades public spaces, weakens accountability, and privatises citizenship,' it says.
Catalyst also warns that the quest for 'customer satisfaction' could paradoxically foster unattainable expectations.
Written by Catherine Needham of Nuffield College, Oxford, the pamphlet was published as MPs prepared to vote on plans to introduce foundation trusts.
Catalyst director Martin McIvor warned that the plans indicated Labour's 'fundamental confusion of consumerism and citizenship'.
PFmay2003
