Inequality and existential threat: a reply to ‘Fairness, generosity and conditionality in the welfare system: the case of UK disability benefits’ by Elliot Johnson and Daniel Nettle

Johnson and Nettle initially focus upon the detail of policy changes and argue that these changes may seem sensible to a social primate reflexively applying tribal scale psychology. This is a commentary upon policy makers. But later they shift their attention to a broader constituency, those to whom policy makers are appealing and those campaigning to change policy. In concluding comments, the authors state that their thesis could be coupled with a broader account of societal change, that might offer a richer interpretation of change, and it is to this idea that the current commentary is addressed.

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copy edited version of an article published in Global Discourse: An interdisciplinary journal of current affairs. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Dickins, T.E., 2021. A reply to Fairness, generosity and conditionality in the welfare system: the case of UK disability benefits by Ellioy Johnson and Daniel Nettle: Inequality and existential threat. Global Discourse. is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1332/204378920X16067940365026