The introduction of policy instruments such as the Right to Buy (RTB) led to prophecies of the demise of the welfare state in Western Europe. Yet it is increasingly apparent that a welfare state will survive, albeit in a restructured form. This paper examines the place of RTB in the restructuring of social rented housing in the UK and accounts for recent changes to it. A new politics of RTB has arisen from the restructuring of social housing. As the politics of welfare shifted its focus from the scale of welfare provision to reorganising, adjusting and 'modernising' what remained, RTB came into question. This, along with political devolution, has created a new set of conditions that have called RTB into question in different parts of the UK while paradoxically it continues to be widely perceived as inviolable. RTB now occupies an ambiguous and slightly troublesome position as a feature of a residualised social rented sector that is more secure in its role of meeting social needs, as well as being seen to provide a route to owner occupation.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Studies in Human Society
Research Group:	Sociology
Research Field:	Sociology not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Law, Politics and Community Services
Objective Group:	Community Service (excl. Work)
Objective Field:	Community Service (excl. Work) not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Atkinson, R (Associate Professor Rowland Atkinson)
ID Code:	35176
Year Published:	2004
Web of Science® Times Cited:	6
Deposited By:	Sociology and Social Work
Deposited On:	2005-08-01
Last Modified:	2010-06-18
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