Although this article from THE SKWAWKBOX BLOG is from last year, the issues raised here are even more relevant now, as the Government’s pet project, the Behavioural Insights Team (also known as the “Nudge” Unit) has extended it’s reach much further, including into the far Right’s political domain that entails the micro-management of the media.

We can see that the welfare “reforms” were founded on basic ideas from the discredited pseudo-psychology called Behaviourism and the principles of operant conditioning. “Incentivise”, a word the Conservatives use a lot, is one that they claim is simply imported from the language of paternalistic libertarianism. We are reassured that the government are encouraging people to make “the right choices” for their own long-term benefit, by using “choice architecture” to change the decision-making context that is presented to the public.

However,  a government that punishes the poorest citizens with sanctions that entail the withdrawal of lifeline benefits can only at best be described as authoritarian and coercive. 

I’m currently working on an article about “Nudge” and the bogus psychology  employed to manipulate the public by a psychocratic government.

DWP fake psych ‘test’ order illegal – according to DWP.

Thanks to Robert @LivingstonePics