Thatcher's civilising offensive: The Ridley Plan to decivilise the working class

Abstract

Central to the agenda of the 1979 UK Government of Margaret Thatcher was the necessity to degrade the level of organisation and sense of well-being enjoyed by British Trade Union members. I argue that this represented a reversal of the civilising process – rather a civilising offensive conducted against one of the industrial classes, the working class, in order to strengthen the other, the bourgeoisie. This article discusses how this objective was realised, and evaluates its role in shaping the contemporary context.