Thatcher's enterprise society and electoral change*

Abstract

This article aims to examine the relationship between the development of the ‘enterprise society’ and changes in electoral support from 1979 to 1987. It focuses on the impact of four policies at the heart of Thatcherism: the extensive programme of share‐ownership, the sale of council houses, declining membership of trade unions and the expansion of private health care. The article concludes that over the last decade the enterprise society has radically transformed many central aspects of British society. This may reinforce Conservatism in future generations but nevertheless in the short term the development of the enterprise society had little impact on changing electoral support in the 1987 General Election.