2. What balance should be struck between employers’ rights to restructure and downsize and workers’ rights? Neoliberalism is embedded into many aspects of our lives. Lapavitsas (2013) uses the term

‘financialization’ to reflect the central place of the financial sector in Western economies. The financial system is ubiquitous and is found in ‘every nook and cranny of society including housing, education, health, home care and other areas of life that were previously relatively immune’ (Lapavitsas, 2013).

Financialization is a means of transferring risk, cost and responsibility away from the welfare state to individuals (Whitfield, 2012: 2).