Discursive shifts: the Labour party, economic relations and social justice

Social-democratic parties, or rather social-democratic leaders, have long ceased to suggest to anyone but their most credulous followers (and the more stupid among their opponents) that they were concerned in any sense whatever with the business of bringing about a socialist society. (Miliband, 1973, p. 244) Denis Lawton has written a valuable and useful history that charts the early origins and ‘development’ of the Labour party’s educational policies during the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. He seeks to place these within their political, social and economic context and draws out the key educational ideologies that sit with his periodicity. The bulk of the book focuses upon the past 50 years, with the first three chapters providing a historical contextualisation of the post-war period. These early chapters also seek to draw out some of the tensions and contradictions that remain present within the Labour party. Key among these is that between a moral, ethical socialism and a Fabian concern with technical and economic efficiency