Noel Thompson – författare

Social Opulence and Private Restraint is a study of the place of the consumer and consumption in the political economy of British socialism, from its early-nineteenth-century origins, through 'New Times' Marxism, to the consumer-focused New Labourism and political economies critical of consumerism that can be found in the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first-century Left. Noel Thompson identifies and explicates recurrent themes which cross the boundaries of the conventional periodisation of the history of British socialist thought; themes which illustrate the sustained nature of the multifaceted ideological challenge presented by the accommodation of the consumer within socialist political economy. This challenge necessitates an engagement with the character and priorities of a future socialist society. As such it touches on some of the key issues which socialists have confronted in pursuit of their vision of a good society: issues with a strong contemporary relevance such as the desirability of private as against social opulence; the relationship between consumption and happiness; the need to educate and/or to liberate desire; and, in particular, the environmental and social consequences of rising levels of consumer expectation and consumption. The study also throws light on how the disparate ways in which these issues were addressed reflected and shaped the socialist political economies that emerged in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, while also engendering tensions between them.

`In Political Economy and the Labour Party, Noel Thompson gives an informative and stimulating outline of the ideas and theories that have shaped the party’s economic policy since 1900.’ - Times Literary Supplement A new edition of the American Library Association's `Outstanding Academic Book' award winner.This new volume brings this study of the rich tradition of British socialist political economy and its influence on the British Labour Party fully up-to-date.Surveying the Labour tradition from the Fabianism of the Webbs to the `social-ism’ of Tony Blair’s Third Way, this new edition considers the critical engagement of these political economies with capitalism and the policies they articulate. It also discusses the manner in which they influence, or establish the context for, Labour’s economic thinking and policymaking and traces the ideological trajectory British social democratic political economy over the course of the twentieth century. In its concluding chapter this volume assesses the present character of the political economy advanced by the Labour Party and raises the question as to whether it can any longer be considered part of the social democratic tradition.This is an essential new edition of this now standard text for students taking courses on the history of political and economic thought and, more generally, courses on the political and intellectual history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain.

`In Political Economy and the Labour Party, Noel Thompson gives an informative and stimulating outline of the ideas and theories that have shaped the party’s economic policy since 1900.’ - Times Literary Supplement A new edition of the American Library Association's `Outstanding Academic Book' award winner.This new volume brings this study of the rich tradition of British socialist political economy and its influence on the British Labour Party fully up-to-date.Surveying the Labour tradition from the Fabianism of the Webbs to the `social-ism’ of Tony Blair’s Third Way, this new edition considers the critical engagement of these political economies with capitalism and the policies they articulate. It also discusses the manner in which they influence, or establish the context for, Labour’s economic thinking and policymaking and traces the ideological trajectory British social democratic political economy over the course of the twentieth century. In its concluding chapter this volume assesses the present character of the political economy advanced by the Labour Party and raises the question as to whether it can any longer be considered part of the social democratic tradition.This is an essential new edition of this now standard text for students taking courses on the history of political and economic thought and, more generally, courses on the political and intellectual history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain.

G. D. H. Cole was one of the foremost British socialist thinkers of the twentieth century. His literary output was immense and encompassed works of social theory, economics, political economy, economic history, social and labour history, political theory, history of thought and sociology. The books and pamphlets chosen for this edition are amongst his most significant. They are representative of the different phases of his thinking and illustrative of an acute and inquiring socialist mind as it wrestled with the formidable political and intellect challenges confronted by socialists in this most turbulent of centuries. This set re-issues 10 works of the well-known socialist thinker G. D. H. Cole and one volume of collected pamphlets, originally published between 1917 and 1956. The works in this collection encompass three critical periods of Cole’s socialist thinking: the guild socialist decade from 1913-23; the post 1929 period when his political economy was dominated by the notion of socialist economic intervention and planning, and the post-war period when, like other socialist theorists, he sought to come to terms with the particular challenges posed by the legacy of the Attlee governments, and the emergence of an affluent society. A substantial introduction by Noel Thompson places the works in their social, political and historical context and illustrates their continued relevance.For institutional purchases for e-book sets please contact online.sales@tandf.co.uk (customers in the UK, Europe and Rest of World)

This volume of extremely rare pamphlets spans over thirty years of prolific output by G D H Cole. It encompasses the challenges of full employment and the role re-armament in achieving that, nationalizing industries, the principles of socialism and the welfare state.

J. F. C. Harrison has written that 'for each age there is a new view of Mr Owen', which is proof of the fertility and continuing relevance of his ideas. Not just in Britain and America but today around the world anti-poverty campaigners, birth-controllers, collectivists, communitarians, co-operators, ecologists, educationalists, environmentalists, feminists, humanitarians, internationalists, paternalistic capitalists, secularists, campaigners for social justice, trade unionists, urban planners, utopians, welfare reformers can all find something to admire and inspire in the treasure trove that is the thought and actions of Robert Owen. Owen was a creative genius of global significance, a radical writer and activist of international reputation and reach who has inspired those seeking to change human society for the better. The contributors to this volume include not only many of the recognized experts on the life, work and legacy of Owen, but also work from younger scholars or scholars coming to the field afresh. The volume presents the most recent and original research on Owen. Owen notoriously (and impressively) dabbled in many spheres, and this is reflected in the its breadth of content. The unifying themes are Owen's profile in his own time, and the relevance of his ideas for the generations that followed. His importance for educational and social philosophy, for political economy and for the political theory of socialism are all discussed, as are his contribution as a philanthropic employer, his political activities and the specificities of his historical context.

This volume of extremely rare pamphlets spans over thirty years of prolific output by G D H Cole. It encompasses the challenges of full employment and the role re-armament in achieving that, nationalizing industries, the principles of socialism and the welfare state.

The Market and Its Critics, first published in 1988, considers the reaction of socialist writers to the growth of the market economy in nineteenth century Britain, and examines in detail the diverse elements of the critique which they formulated.Dr Thompson looks at the theoretic and thematic continuities and discontinuities over the century, structuring his study around the idea of a changing socialist response to the market economy. Much of the literature in question is comprehensive, perceptive and acute. However, the writers invariably discounted the possibility of the market playing a role in a future socialist or communist commonwealth. The solutions they posited to the problem were inapplicable to the increasingly industrial economy of the time. It was this that left their writing vulnerable to attack, and which had profound consequences both for the fate of the socialist political economy in nineteenth century Britain and its subsequent evolution in the twentieth century.