Liberalism Flashcards
(37 cards)
What are the strands of liberalism?
Modern
Classical
Who are the key thinkers of liberalism?
Locke - CL
Wollstonecraft - CL
Mill - CL
Rawls - ML
Friedan - ML
What are they core ideas/principles of liberalism?
Individualism
Freedom
The state
Rationalism
Equality and social justice
Liberal Democracy
What are classical liberal attitudes to individualism?
-Egotistical individualism (maximising own utility to thrive to best ability).
-Freedom of individual is sacrosanct, otherwise society would be atomistic.
-State should be limited to maintaining law and order, protecting society from invasion.
-Respects formal equality (enshrined by law) - negative freedom.
-State must uphold and protect human rights.
What are modern liberal attitudes to individualism?
-Positive freedom.
-Developmental individualism.
-Agree with self-reliance but argue state should offer a ‘hand-up’.
-Believe only an interventionist state can guarantee freedoms.
What are classical liberal ideas of freedom/liberty?
-Society is made up of individuals with their own interests.
-There is no broader common good or public interest that individuals serve.
-State welfare will only make people dependent.
What are Locke’s ideas of freedom/liberty?
‘Where there is no law, there is no liberty’.
-Role of gov was to protect a man’s right to ‘life, liberty and estate’.
-State needed to mediate between competing individuals to enforce order.
-Limited government to maximise individual freedom.
-Laissex-faire capitalism
-Social contract - government by consent.
What are Mill’s ideas of freedom/liberty?
-Advocated freedom of speech, thought and religion, unless these pose a direct threat to others.
-Negative freedom.
-Individuals should be free from interference even if they are harming themselves e.g. marijuana laws.
What does Rawls believe about freedom/liberty?
-Larger role of state in society and economy.
-Enabling state would ensure individual’s life chances weren’t determined by status at birth.
-More tax and state spending to ensure equality of opportunity.
What are liberal ideas of freedom/liberty with reference to women?
Mill - argued for the female vote decades before it was achieved in ‘The Subjection of Women’ 1869.
Wollstonecraft - championed formal equality in terms of women pursuing a career, playing a role in economy and having legal property rights. ‘The mind has no gender’ - saw women as equally capable.
Friedan - championed equality of opportunity.
What are classical liberal ideas on the state?
-State is a necessary evil.
-Egotistical individualism, laissex-faire economics.
-Should intervene to uphold rule of law and protect society from foreign invasion.
-Locke argued for government by consent/social contract.
How do classical liberals wish to limit government?
-Limit power by dividing it between branches, separation of powers, and enforce government by consent.
-Limit jurisdiction - state should ensure laws are upheld to protect freedom and economically protect property rights and regulate.
-Ensure foundational equality.
-Limiting electorate - favour representative democracy over direct. Mill argued only those with proper education should vote.
What are modern liberal ideas about the state?
-Mill later adapted to more ML view, allowing for state intervention to assist the poor experiencing injustice.
-State should promote equality of opportunity through education and reduce the influence of inherited privelage.
-Rawls argues state should take more proactive role in reducing inequality and preventing social injustice.
-Friedan argued the state should guarantee societal and economic equality for women.
What are liberal ideas of rationalism?
-Humans are rational, capable of reason and logic.
-Lock ‘reason must be our last guide and judge in everything’.
-More confident in human’s intellectual ability to construct theories and create a progressive society.
How have modern liberals been influenced by rationalistic ideas?
-Positive freedom.
-State-sponsored welfare state.
-Mill’s ideas of universal education.
-Enabling state.
-Keynesian economics.
-Rawl’s ideas of equality and social justice.
How have classical liberals been influenced by rationalistic ideas?
-Locke’s ideas of constitutional and representative government.
-Laissez-faire economics e.g. Trump’s tarrifs.
-Mill’s negative freedom, autonomy of the individual is paramount.
What are liberal ideas of equality and social justice?
-Initially focused on foundational equality and the rule of law so no individual was exempt.
-E.g. HRA, US Bill of Rights.
-CL has struggled with what constitutes fouundational equality as they largely ignored gender/racial inequality.
What does Rawls argue about equality and social justice?
-Constructed a rational model to demonstrate need for social justice and inherent logic of it.
-Veil of ignorance.
-Inequality in a capitalist-based society would be justified as long as those who do well economically don’t do at the expense of the less well off.
What do MLs believe about equality and social justice?
-Full foundational equality.
-Wollstonecraft (CL THINKER) argued women were denied equality in property ownership and political representation + discriminated in workplace.
-Friedan argued for legal and economic parity and workplace equality of opportunity,
-MLK + CR movement.
-Recognised foundational equality not enough, need full welfare state (education, healthcare, minimum wage etc).
-Influenced Berevidge Report.
What is Rawls’ veil of ignorance?
Posited that if individuals were asked to choose what time of society an individual would prefer and were ignorant of their own circumstances, they would choose a society with little inequality.
What are liberal ideas of liberal democracy?
-Locke’s ideas were a response to his perception of illegitimate government, during time when state was run by authoritarian elites.
-Social contract (Locke) - gov should only be by consent.
-Mill feared dominance of the working class if they were given the vote, argued for plural votes for the educated and wealthy.
-Accept every individual should have a vote and individual freedoms.
What are the key points of liberal democratic theory?
-Supremacy of the people (CLs social contract + MLs equal vote).
-Government by consent.
-Rule of law/peaceful conflict resolution.
-Common good/public interest (CL struggles due to atomistic individualism + ML agrees with collective aims).
-Value of individual as rational, moral citizen.
-Political equality/equal rights (ML/CL united).
What areas do liberals differ over?
-Freedom of the individual.
-Role of the state and economy.
Mill
Classical liberal ideas of freedom
-Negative freedom - freedom from constraint and interference where possible.
-Mill’s ‘Harm Principle’ argued individual should be unencumbered unless they directly negatively impact others.
-Society with freedom of thought, discussion, religion and assembly.
-Right to freedom from interference even if actions harm themselves.
