The neoliberals sought to return to the time prior to the British economist William Beveridge's proposal, which influenced the introduction of the welfare state, to provide social insurance 'as of right and without means test'. The neoliberals harked back to the household means-test, which was one of the most hated aspects of the poverty-relief of the 1930s. Like the Ford Company's intrusive paternalism, the family means-test had subjected relief recipients to invasive and humiliating investigations of their finances and savings. Continuing a history of deterrence that had characterised poor relief since the Poor Law of 1834, the means-test treated accepting relief as a matter of social disgrace.

Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, loc. 215