Why was it down to Marcus Rashford to feed our children?
The dimension of class within the political sphere is a complex one which can affect voting patterns, political agendas, and policy implementation. Discussions in this piece of writing intend to examine class impacts on the political culture within the UK. Using the example of Marcus Rashford’s campaign to provide food for deprived children in the absence of free school meals (FSM), this blog post aims to provide reasons as to why the wants and needs of the working-class are often disregarded or not heard.
After the Covid-19 pandemic ensued, footballer Marcus Rashford began a campaign in June 2020 to continue the supply of free meals to children of families who otherwise would not be able to provide them (BBC, 2020). After previously announcing that they would not be handing out food vouchers for families in need during the school summer holidays, the government back tracked on their decision following the popularity of Rashford’s campaign (BBC, 2020). The efforts of Rashford also included his work with the charity FareShare, where a £20 million donation target was reached enabling FareShare to increase their meal deliveries from 930,000 to 2 million (Adams, 2021). Subsequently, Rashford’s success and influence on government decision-making triggered serious questioning over the attitudes and approaches from the government towards deprived members of British society.
Ronald Inglehart’s discussion of changing values explains the neglect of working-class individuals and their needs/wants. Inglehart notes how Western post-industrial societies have become more secure due to the welfare state and post-war era (Inglehart, 2006, p.685). Materialist values of economic and physical security are thus losing their emphasis, giving more of a focus to postmaterialist values such as self-expression and free choice (Inglehart, 2006, p.685). Thus, more secure lifestyles and taking survival for granted, is shifting political agendas to include issues around the environment, gender, and sexuality (Inglehart and Norris, 2017, p.443). This shift in political issues negatively impacts those in Western societies that do not experience complete material security as the survival struggles of deprived members of society is de-centred (Inglehart and Norris, 2017, p.443). Therefore, in a majority who do experience secure lifestyles, topics such as the provision of FSM is one which drops off the political agenda. Additionally, at the time of Rashford’s campaign, 65% of Johnson’s cabinet were privately educated which is a demographic that further perpetuates the ignorance to working-class struggles (The Sutton Trust, 2020). Sobolewska and Ford add conviction to Inglehart’s discussions by highlighting the impact of ethnocentrism. In the presence of ethnocentrism, people tend to view society as different groups, and they place their own group at the centre of everything (Sobolewska and Ford, 2020, p.24). Where government members are mostly not working-class, they do not identify with the problems that they face. Therefore, Inglehart’s concept of postmaterialist values combined with ideas around ethnocentrism provide convincing insights into why government responses to the needs of deprived children were poor.
Alternatively, the effects of globalisation can explain the government’s hesitancy to meet the needs of the working-class. The process of globalisation has led to increased global interconnectedness between states and non-state actors, thereby rapidly transforming the communication of ideas and the movement of people (Haynes et al, 2011, p.10). Growing immigration patterns have altered the demographic of the electorate whilst also encouraging new conflicts between migrants and anti-immigration traditionalists (Kriesi et al, 2006, p.923). Such global changes are re-shaping the structure of political spaces and giving rise to new social movements (Kriesi et al, 2006, p.924). Consequently, changes are prompting political parties to reposition their values and identities to fit with the concerns of their electorate (Kriesi et al, 2006, p.925). This would explain why policies aimed at tackling gender or ethnic discrimination are growing in popularity, whilst examples such as Rashford’s FSM campaign continue to highlight the overlooking of class struggles. However, it may be that British class politics is not in decline, but rather it is changing its structure. The traditional class cleavage is now a conflict between protectionist policies and national competitiveness in the global markets (Kriesi et al, 2006, p.924). So, perhaps there is only a perceived change to the salience of class issues, and rather, they have not become less prominent because of new issues arising. Overall, globalisation has transformed the domestic political spheres, creating new movements which governments must respond to and shifting existing concerns down the priorities list of the policymakers.
To conclude, the two main reasons why the wants and needs of the working-class are often disregarded or not heard is due to changing political values and the effects of globalisation. Inglehart offers useful explanations of the movement from materialist to postmaterialist values to address why it is that working-class struggles have dropped down on political priority lists. Furthermore, though globalisation theories may have exaggerated the decline of class concerns in British policymaking, they also make persuasive explanations for changes to legislative behaviour.
Bibliography
Adams, T. (2021). Marcus Rashford: the making of a food superhero. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jan/17/marcus-rashford-the-making-of-a-food-superhero-child-hunger-free-school-meals.
BBC (2020). Marcus Rashford: Government changes decision on free school meals – CBBC Newsround. www.bbc.co.uk. [online] 8 Nov. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/54862230.
Haynes, J., Hough, P., Malik, S. and Pettiford, L., 2013. World politics: International relations and globalisation in the 21st century. Routledge.
Inglehart, R. (2006) “Ronald Inglehart. 1971. ‘The Silent Revolution in Europe: Intergenerational Change in Post-industrial Societies.’ ‘American Political Science Review’ 65 (December): 991-1017,” The American political science review, 100(4), pp. 685–685
Inglehart, R., & Norris, P. (2017). Trump and the Populist Authoritarian Parties: “The Silent Revolution” in Reverse. Perspectives on Politics, 15(2), pp:443–454
Kriesi, H., Grande, E., Lachat, R., Dolezal, M., Bornschier, S., & Frey, T. (2006). ‘Globalization and the transformation of the national political space: Six European countries compared.’ European Journal of Political Research, 45(6), pp:921-956
Marcus Rashford forces government U-turn after food voucher campaign – CBBC Newsround. (2020). www.bbc.co.uk. [online] 16 Jun. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/53061952.
Sobolewska, M. and Ford, R. (2019) ‘British Culture Wars? Brexit and the Future Politics of Immigration and Ethnic Diversity,’ The Political quarterly (London. 1930), 90(S2), pp. 142–154
Sobolewska, M. and Ford, R., 2020. Brexitland. Cambridge University Press.
Storm, I., Sobolewska, M. and Ford, R. (2017) ‘Is ethnic prejudice declining in Britain? Change in social distance attitudes among ethnic majority and minority Britons,’ The British journal of sociology, 68(3), pp. 410–434
The Sutton Trust (2020). 65% of Boris Johnson’s new cabinet attended independent schools. [online] Sutton Trust. Available at: https://www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion/all-news-opinion/65-of-boris-johnsons-new-cabinet-attended-independent-schools/.
This blog post provides an comprehensive overview of Marcus Rashford’s effort to increase Free School Meals over lockdown and does a good job at tying it to the wider issue of class within British Politics. An aspect of this post I found particularly interesting was the idea of ‘ethnocentrism’, the author applied this idea well to the Conservative government of the day and how its presence arguably played a factor in why the response to the needs of the working-class children weren’t met as effectively as issues which affect the middle and upper classes. The author brings in themes which might not immediately come to mind when thinking of this issue such as globalisation. They justify how globalisation may provide an explanation for the government’s reluctance to further the needs of the working class. Nearly half (49%) of British people consider themselves as working class. With this being such a vast majority of the population, it is important to bring to light how the government may be overlooking this large group in the application of their policy and dividence of their funding. Rashford’s 2020 campaign highlighted just how big of an issue this is, and how the issue of class is not something of the past but something which is still largely relevant today. Overall, this blog post is well constructed and touches on important implications of the government’s attitude to class.
This blog post shows the author’s extensive knowledge on the subject of the neglect of the working class in modern British politics. The author’s knowledge is evident throughout the blog post, I found the coverage on how those who do not have the material security to feed themselves are neglected as political agendas surrounding the environment, gender, and sexuality, very engaging.
I would add to this blog post whether the voting behaviour of voters who do not have material security affects the policies, or lack of policies, to support them. The Conservative government may not want to push out policies to the poorest of the population as they are not part of their voting base. The Conservative Party’s support largely comes from middle to upper-class voters and thus they will push out policies aimed at supporting their voter base rather than supporting a population that would not normally vote for them. The bias against those who struggle to feed their families could be explained partly for this reason. A government party with a different voting base could change this as it is politically advantage for them to produce policy to support this portion of the population.
This blog entry effectively discusses Marcus Rashford’s significant contribution to campaigning for free meal programmes for children, emphasising a critical social problem. However, one area that may be investigated more is the underlying systemic challenges that demand such campaigns. Although it is admirable that people like Rashford take action, the dependence on celebrity activism to tackle core social welfare issues reveals a broader systemic flaw. The post might profit from a consideration of the historical and political circumstances that have contributed to the inadequate funding and under prioritisation of child welfare programmes.
Furthermore, evaluating this situation to instances like it in other nations may provide a global perspective, indicating if this is a unique occurrence or an aspect of an ongoing pattern in government responsibility for child welfare. For example, examining how nations such as Finland handle child welfare might offer interesting comparisons that highlight different methods to social safety nets. This comparison approach could expand the conversation by demonstrating prospective solutions or different methods of government engagement, giving readers a more comprehensive knowledge of the topic at hand.
This post did a really good job at picking a social phenomenon and tying it into the larger picture of politics. I found the example of a football player funding meals for students to fill the gaps left by the government to be a moving example of the disregard for working class, materialist needs of the working class. The author made a compelling argument that the working class is not properly represented by any party in the UK, however it leaves the question of what effect this has on voting behaviour. The post could have benefited from a quick discussion about the effects of what this lack of adequate representation has on how working class voters decide who to vote for. This could be connected to the increasing trends of issue voting, lack of party allegiance, and voter apathy. These effects are especially salient given the extent of the cost of living crisis.
This blog post was a highly interesting read on the often disregard of the working-classes by those in government. I particularly enjoyed how the author used the example of Marcus Rashford’s free school meals programme, to highlight the neglect of working-classes. It effectively describes reasons for this through a variety of academic sources. One improvement I would recommend would be to describe how this relates to voting behaviour and political participation in the UK.
An interesting blog on a fascinating topic, with an engaging title that draws readers in. The juxtaposition between Rashford’s campaign and Johnson’s cabinet was daunting, and showed a sincerity to express the author’s point. However, the segment on Rashford was short in comparison to the rest of the blog. The author moved on to a vaguer discussion of classism as a social issue, rendering the title a tad misleading.