Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T12:52:30.752Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Creating an ownership society? Social security reform and the temporalities of libertarian rhetoric

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2023

Simone Knewitz
Simone Knewitz*
Affiliation:
University of Bonn, Germany
*
Corresponding author: Simone Knewitz, Department of English, American, and Celtic Studies, University of Bonn, Regina-Pacis-Weg 5, 53113 Bonn, Germany. Email: sknewitz@nap-uni-bonn.de
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Former US president George W. Bush's idea of the United States as an ‘ownership society’ can be considered as the rhetorical apex of a conservative, libertarian push for a more market-driven restructuring of American social institutions. Reformers in the Bush administration particularly targeted Social Security, a popular American institution and signature achievement of the New Deal era, aiming to replace a system of solidarity with one of individual responsibility and partial privatization. Returning to the time of the early 2000s, this article analyzes the rhetoric of the ownership society as a libertarian utopian social vision - a future, more perfect community the United States should aspire to grow into. It argues that the political discourse on Social Security propagated by the Bush administration relied on rhetorical strategies characterized by an engagement of temporalities. On the one hand, ownership discourse invoked the nation's past achievements and traditional values secured during the American Revolution and guaranteed in the nation's founding documents. On the other hand, the administration framed the alleged urgency of the reforms by making projections about the future and using these to raise questions about the present system of Social Security provision. In this way, earlier debates over Social Security reform provide a valuable perspective on the contemporary nexus of finance and temporality.

Keywords

Social securityBush administrationlibertarianismownership societypolitical rhetoric
Type
Article
Information
Finance and Society , Volume 4 , Issue 1: Financial times , 2018 , pp. 60 - 75
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© 2018 The Author(s)

References

Asen, R. (2009) Invoking the Invisible Hand: Social Security and the Privatization Debates. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press.Google Scholar
Asen, R. (2010) The ownership society, or bourgeois publicity revisited. In: Brouwer, D.C. and Asen, R. (eds.) Public Modalities: Rhetoric, Culture, Media, and the Shape of Public Life. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 109–30.Google Scholar
Avsar, R.B. (2008) A critique of ‘neoliberal autonomy’: The rhetoric of ownership society. Forum for Social Economics, 37(2): 125–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Béland, D. (2007) Neo-liberalism and social policy: The politics of ownership. Policy Studies, 28(2): 91–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Board of Trustees, Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds (2005) The 2005 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds. Washington, DC: G.P.O.Google Scholar
Board of Trustees, Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds (2016) The 2016 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees, Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds. Washington, DC: G.P.O.Google Scholar
Boaz, D. (2004) Defining an Ownership Society. Washington, DC: Cato Institute.Google Scholar
Brown, J.L., Kuttner, R., and Shapiro, T.M. (2005) Building a Real ‘Ownership Society’. New York, NY: Century Foundation.Google Scholar
Bush, G.W. (2005a) Remarks to the National Summit on Retirement Savings, 28 February 2002. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I). Washington, DC: G.P.O., 308–11.Google Scholar
Bush, G. W. (2006a) Remarks to small investors in Alexandria, Virginia, 12 February 12 2003. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book I). Washington, DC: G.P.O., 156–61.Google Scholar
Bush, G.W. (2006b) Remarks in a discussion on the national economy in Bakersfield, California, 4 March 2004. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I). Washington, DC: G.P.O., 309–18.Google Scholar
Bush, G.W. (2006c) Remarks at a Bush-Cheney reception in Dearborn, Michigan, 24 July 2003. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II). Washington, DC: G.P.O., 926–30.Google Scholar
Bush, G.W. (2007a) Remarks following a discussion with small-business entrepreneurs, 2 July 2004. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II). Washington, DC: G.P.O., 1224–33.Google Scholar
Bush, G.W. (2007b) Remarks in a discussion in Lima, Ohio, 28 August 2004. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II). Washington, DC: G.P.O., 1775–94.Google Scholar
Bush, G.W. (2007c) Remarks accepting the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in New York City, 2 September 2004. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II). Washington, DC: G.P.O., 1855–63.Google Scholar
Bush, G.W. (2007d) Inaugural address, 20 January 2005. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book I). Washington, DC: G.P.O., 66–69.Google Scholar
Bush, G.W. (2007e) Address before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union, 2 February 2005. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book I). Washington, DC: G.P.O., 113–21.Google Scholar
Canova, T.A. (2008) Legacy of the Clinton bubble. Dissent, 55(3): 41–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clinton, W.J. (1995) Remarks on the national homeownership strategy, 5 June 1995. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I). Washington, DC: G.P.O. 805–08.Google Scholar
Cuevas, O.O. (2012) Welcome to my cell: Housing and race in the mirror of American democracy. American Quarterly, 64(3): 605–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engel, K.C. and McCoy, P.A. (2001) Tale of three markets: The law and economics of predatory lending. Texas Law Review, 80(6): 1255–1381.Google Scholar
Friedman, M. (1962) Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hardin, G. (1968) The tragedy of the commons. Science, 13(162): 1243–48.Google Scholar
von Hayek, F.A.. (1960) The Constitution of Liberty. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Klein, N. (2008) Disowned by the ownership society. The Nation [Online], 31 January. Available at: <https://www.thenation.com/article/disowned-ownership-society/>. Accessed 24 January 2018..+Accessed+24+January+2018.>Google Scholar
Krugman, P. (2005) Confusions about social security. The Economists’ Voice, 2(1): 1–9.Google Scholar
Levinson, M. (2005) Worse than you thought: Bush's budget and the gutting of social security. Dissent, 52(2): 30–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, R. (2002) Financialization of Daily Life. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Mian, A., Sufi, A. and Trebbi, F. (2008) The political economy of the subprime mortgage credit expansion. Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 8(4): 373–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nozick, R. (1974) Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Palmer, T.G. (2004) An ownership society fosters responsibility, liberty, properity. Cato Institute [Online], 13 January. Available at: <https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/ownership-society-fosters-responsibility-liberty-prosperity>. Accessed 24 January 2018..+Accessed+24+January+2018.>Google Scholar
Radin, M.J. (1993) Reinterpreting Property. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Smith, A. (1976) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. 2 Volumes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Soederberg, S. (2007) Freedom, ownership, and social (in-)security in the United States. Cultural Critique, 65(1): 92–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United States Census Bureau (2017) Quarterly rate of homeownership by race and ethnicity of householder: 1994 to present. Available at: <http://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/histtabs.html>. Accessed 24 January 2018..+Accessed+24+January+2018.>Google Scholar
United States Government Accountability Office (2006) Hud homeownership programs: Data limitations constrain assessment of the American Dream Downpayment Initiative. Report to Congressional Committees, GAO-06-677(2006) [Online]. Available at: <https://www.gao.gov/assets/260/250683.pdf> Accessed 24 January 2018.+Accessed+24+January+2018.>Google Scholar
Waldron, J. (1988) The Right to Private Property. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Wehner, P.H. (2005) Memo on social security. Wall Street Journal [Online], 5 January. Available at: <https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB110496995612018199>. Accessed 24 January 2018..+Accessed+24+January+2018.>Google Scholar
Wray, L.R. (2005a) Manufacturing a crisis: The Neocon attack on social security. Levy Economics Institute Policy Note, 2005/2. Available at: <http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/pn05_2.pdf>. Accessed 24 January 2018.Google Scholar
Wray, L.R. (2005b) The ownership society: Social security is only the beginning. Levy Economics Institute Policy Note, No. 82. Available at: <http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/ppb_82.pdf>. Accessed 24 January 2018..+Accessed+24+January+2018.>Google Scholar