Privatization and the Consumer

Abstract

`Privatization' has taken many different forms over recent years, and different kinds of privatization have very different sociological implications for consumers of state services. The paper develops a typology of privatization and considers how each type might change the relationship between producers and consumers. It is argued that consumer powerlessness is endemic in many areas of state provision, but that privatization does not necessarily affect this. Indeed, the story of privatization in Britain over the last ten years suggests that those forms of privatization which most empower consumers relative to producers have been precisely those forms which are least developed.