tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post8567328199274454925..comments2024-03-08T15:43:20.236+00:00Comments on Keynesian Liberal: Customers or citizens: what's in a name?Peter Wrigleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16481117156930677255noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-1041202837477705682017-01-18T12:38:32.247+00:002017-01-18T12:38:32.247+00:00“Customer” usually means someone with money who wi...“Customer” usually means someone with money who wishes to exchange it for a product from someone else, usually, though not always, a shop. It’s this cash nexus which oils the wheels of the modern economy. As you rightly point out, this cash nexus is often involved in activities other than shopping, such as the railway journey you describe. However, the alternative descriptions give more information. For example, a passenger wants to go somewhere; a student wants to learn something, or gain qualification; a patient wants to be healed or have some physical or mental deficiency rectified; a viewer, listener or theatregoer wants to be entertained or stimulated. These objectives may be more important than the cash nexus. Most important, a citizen has certain entitlements regardless of whether or not a financial contribution has been made. We are all entitled to enjoy the benefits of street lighting whether or not we are council-tax payers (Incidentally, it still doesn’t light). Conflating all our roles into that of customer demeans both our language and ourselves. Peter Wrigleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16481117156930677255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-12752887394981723662017-01-16T09:40:51.782+00:002017-01-16T09:40:51.782+00:00I still don't get it, I'm afraid. Perhaps ...I still don't get it, I'm afraid. Perhaps a concrete example would help. When I interact with the railways I do so as a customer: I pay them money and they take me places. When they fail to keep up their end of the bargain, as last night when thanks to a rail replacement bus service being in operation I had to find an alternative way home, I get cross at them as a customer because they have failed to hope up their end of the contract with me.<br /><br />So how am I not a 'customer' in this situation? <br /><br />Or if you agree I am a customer in that situation, could you come up with another concrete example of how an interaction with one of the services you mention changes if I am not a 'customer'?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-31441562362928599852017-01-09T17:32:48.555+00:002017-01-09T17:32:48.555+00:00LS27: I agree that "service user" is bot...LS27: I agree that "service user" is both clumsy and contrived, and see no reason why "client" should be regarded as a stigma in this context. After all, professionals such as lawyers and accountants have clients, who are in no way demeaned by the role.<br /><br />Anonymous: I refer you to the comment by my former student in the original article. We all have various roles in society, as, for example passengers, viewers, listeners, and to reduce them all to the cash nexus implied by "customer" implies the triumph of the economic relationship in every sphere.Peter Wrigleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16481117156930677255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-40132053370655926022017-01-07T02:02:41.240+00:002017-01-07T02:02:41.240+00:00I mean, would you object to being called a 'cu...I mean, would you object to being called a 'customer' by a taxi driver? If not, then why object to being called it by a train company, which is providing precisely the same service?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-51632606319043206992017-01-07T01:49:02.462+00:002017-01-07T01:49:02.462+00:00I must admit I'm not quite sure what the point...I must admit I'm not quite sure what the point is. What exactly is the relevant difference between a customer and a citizen?<br /><br />I mean, when I engage with the railways I am precisely engaging with them as a customer: I give them money and I expect them to provide me with a service, to whit, to transport me from point A to point B at the times indicated on their schedule. I don't know what it would mean for them to treat me as a 'citizen' and I'm not sure I would want them to do so: what I want them to do is treat me as a customer and provide the service they promise (and when I get cross with them is when they fail to treat me as a customer). <br /><br />The same seems to be the case with your malfunctioning street light: you pay your taxes and expect the council to provide you with a service, in this case, post-dusk illumination. You are a customer for their service. You are contacting them as a customer who has paid for a service and is unhappy with what you have received and wishes for that to be remedied, are you not? <br /><br />So what exactly would it mean to treat you as a citizen rather than a customer? What do they not do for you as a customer that they would do as a citizen?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-34311491705321007532017-01-03T21:22:43.377+00:002017-01-03T21:22:43.377+00:00Are we not subjects rather than citizens given we ...Are we not subjects rather than citizens given we live under a monarchy? I also have trouble with the word service-user which is increasingly being used in replacement of client within social care settings, a move to get away from the stigma of client but somehow still sounds a bit limiting and stigmatising. LS27noreply@blogger.com