The Big Society

Conservatism reinvented?

The Big Society is the most significant ideological theme to have emerged within the UK Conservative Party in recent years. But what does the Big Society mean? Why has so much prominence been given to the idea, and what does this tell us about the continuing importance of political ideology? How, if at all, is the Big Society linked to conservatism? Finally, is the Big Society an attempt to reinvent UK conservatism, or merely to rebrand the Conservative Party?

Andrew Heywood

TOPFOTO

The notion of the Big Society was the central ideological theme in the Conservative Party’s May 2010 general election manifesto. Although Big Society thinking can be traced back to the 1990s, and to early attempts to develop a non-Thatcherite, or post-Thatcherite, brand of UK conservatism, such thinking gained growing prominence once David Cameron became party leader in December 2005.

Although the term has attracted considerable controversy — not least because of allegations that the Conservative-led coalition has used it as a ruse to disguise spending cuts — the idea itself has a relatively straightforward meaning.