Thatcher’s Children, Blair’s Babies, Political Socialization and Trickle-down Value Change: an age, period and cohort analysis
Abstract
To what extent are new generations ‘Thatcherite’? Using British Social Attitudes data for 1985–2012 and applying age-period-cohort analysis and generalized additive models, this article investigates whether Thatcher’s Children hold more right-authoritarian political values compared to other political generations. The study further examines the extent to which the generation that came of age under New Labour – Blair’s Babies – shares these values. The findings for generation effects indicate that the later political generation is even more right-authoritarian, including with respect to attitudes to redistribution, welfare and crime. This view is supported by evidence of cohort effects. These results show that the legacy of Thatcherism for left-right and libertarian-authoritarian values is its long-term shaping of public opinion through political socialization.Citation
Grasso, M.T., Farrall, S., Gray, E., Hay, C. and Jennings, W. (2017) 'Thatcher’s Children, Blair’s Babies, Political Socialization and Trickle-down Value Change: an age, period and cohort analysis', British Journal of Political Science DOI: 10.1017/S0007123416000375Journal
British Journal of Political ScienceDOI
10.1017/S0007123416000375Additional Links
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0007123416000375/type/journal_articlehttp://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/98854/
Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
0007-12341469-2112
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1017/S0007123416000375