ABSTRACT
Moreover, right-wing intellectuals observed that it was not merely that left wing and liberal thought had simply failed to see problems inherent in ‘soft’ approaches to crime, discipline, education, and so forth. This so-called progressive theorising had itself provided a basis for the acceleration of the permissive syndromes in question. High levels of criminality and disorder were therefore blamed not only on the weakening sources of social authority, the family, schools, religion and other key institutions, but even more so on the corrosive influence of the surrounding culture with its emphasis on rights rather than obligations and the celebration of self expression to the point of self indulgence instead of promoting self control and self constraint (Tzannetakis, 2001). The new right argued that in such a spiralling, de-moralising culture, it was clear that crime and violence would inevitably increase. Thus, real problems and sociological apologies alike had to be confronted, and an attempt made to reassert the virtue and necessity of authority, order and discipline (Scruton, 1980, 1985).
