The Public Sector

Bob Milward
Additional contact information
Bob Milward: University of Central Lancashire

Chapter 12 in Marxian Political Economy, 2000, pp 154-166 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The role of the public sector has obviously changed considerably over the past century and the relationship between the state and private capital is one which can define the historical episodes in the development of capitalism to the present day. Marx had little to say in Capital about the role of the state and did not fully develop his theory of the state, dealing only with the state in terms of intervention through the Factory Acts and the role of the state in the process of primitive accumulation. However, the size of the public sector has grown inordinately during the twentieth century to match the ever changing requirements of the capitalist class and the economic environment. This has included not only the expansion in the size and scope of the public sector, but also concerted attempts at its reduction in both aspects, particularly since the mid-1970s. The dramatic increase in the level of state intervention after the Second World War has, in the past twenty years, undergone an equally dramatic revision in the form of deregulation. The emphasis has been in terms of the requirements of the capitalist class given the dynamics of the system as a whole such that, the size and function of the public sector is a reflection of the economic conditions that prevail.

Keywords: Public Sector; Capitalist Economy; Capitalist System; Capitalist Relation; Capitalist Class (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-28748-8_12

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230287488

DOI: 10.1057/9780230287488_12

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().