Social Care and the Modern Citizen: Client, Consumer, Service User, Manager and Entrepreneur

Since coming to power, New Labour has embarked on a programmeof modernization. Few areas of state activity have been morevisibly subjected to New Labour’s modernization agendathan the personal social services. Local authority social servicesdepartments have largely ceased to exist as separate organizationalentities. However, modernization has also required that therelationship between state and citizen be reconstructed. Thisis evident in New Labour’s vision for adult social carewhich envisages a move towards individual budgets. The individualizingnature of such schemes may be thought hard to reconcile withthe discourse of integration and partnership prominent elsewhere.However, a key linking concept is that of ‘person-centredness’.It is often assumed that this simply means that public servicesbecome more flexible to meet the needs of ‘the person’.This paper uses the example of direct payments to demonstratehow modernization also requires flexibility of ‘the person’.It would appear that inherent in New Labour’s projectof modernization is the assumption that the modern citizen shouldbe both managerial and entrepreneurial. What were once publicresponsibilities are being transferred to the individual. Theimplications for the users of adult social care are discussed.