11.4 - Differing Views and Tensions within Socialism Flashcards
What is the ‘Third Way’?
A perspective that seeks to modify left-wing ideology towards economic and political realities of globalisation.
What type of help should the state provide?
Enough help to allow disadvantaged people to thrive, but not so much that they need to do nothing.
‘A hand UP, not a hand OUT’
What are the core values of the ‘Third Way’?
A balance between rights and responsibilities and combination of social justice alongside market-orientated economics.
Welfare state.
Stakeholding society.
Communitarianism.
Who were the biggest examples of the ‘Third Way’
New Labour.
What left-wing policies did New Labour introduce?
Increased income tax on high earners (funded minimum wage, Education Maintenance Allowance)
Welfare-to-work (sure start, tax credits etc.)
Increased gov. expenditure on essential public services.
What ways did New Labour ‘abandon’ socialism?
Clause IV was completely watered down.
Committal to privatisation, deregulation and marketisation of the welfare state.
Little / no progress towards even distribution of wealth.
Who was regarded as more left-wing, Gordon Brown or Tony Blair?
Gordon Brown. (although he adopted many of the same Third Way policies)
What are the main schools of socialist thought?
Communism
Social Democracy
The Third Way
What was the earliest form of socialism?
Revolutionary socialism.
What were the two main schools of revolutionary socialism?
Utopian socialism
Marxism
What was the main concept of utopian socialism?
Small-scale cooperative communities should replace capitalism.
Why did utopian socialism not really take off?
Marx ironically named it ‘utopian’ as he deemed the ideas as too idealistic with no depth of thought as to how they would be implemented.
All utopian socialist societies of the nineteenth century failed.
What were the main ‘firsts’ that Marx and Engels came up with?
- Human nature had been distorted by capitalism
- Capitalist economics were bad
- Social class at the heart of their arguments
- The state is not neutral but a puppet of the ruling class
- The need for revolution
What did Marx and Engels claim their theories were based upon?
Science.
Revolution was inevitable.
Based on the ideas of:
* Historical materialism
* Dialectic
* Social Class
* Class conciousness
What is historical materialism?
Economic factors are the driving force for changing events.
The economic base forms the superstructure:
* Culture
* Politics
* Law
* Religion
* Ideology
* Social Consciousness
What is dialectic?
A class of ideas between each stage of history.
When pre-existing sets of rules set by the ruling class are not longer valued by the majority and therefore a new society will be born from those two tensions.
What is class conciousness?
The moment the proletariat realises capitalism is exploiting them, empowering them to begin the collective struggle of revolution.
What is a determenist?
People that believe individuals are slaves to the forces of history outside of our control.
Which socialist key thinkers are determenists?
Marx
Engels
Luxembourg
Did Luxembourg argue with Marx’s view of historical materialism and why?
No.
She felt that less economically developed societies were capable of having revolutions without capitalism reaching a final stage.
What did Luxembourg think of democracy post revolution?
She felt it was necessary, contrary to Marx.
‘Without general elections, without unrestricted freedom of the press and assembly, without a free struggle of opinion, life dies in every institution.’
Why did Luxembourg think Marxist revolutions would be dangerous?
She felt they would lead to dictatorships (she was right..)
What is the disconnect between real applications of Marxism and ideological views of Marxism?
In the USSR, China and Cuba, the state grew rather than withered and, in the case of China and Russia, extreme violence was used to enforce socialist ideals. All cases of Marxism were nationalist rather than internationalist.
What is revisionism?
To review and change a political theory.
i.e. social democracy revised the ideas of democratic socialism.
What was social democracy the revisionism of?
Democratic socialism.
What was the major break between social democracy and democratic socialism?
Social Democrats felt capitalism should not be replaced but rather reformed.
Democratic socialists felt capitalism should be completely replaced.
Why did democratic socialism need a revision?
The postwar economic boom was delivering increased prosperity and living standards due to capitalism.
Rather than alienating the working class, capitalism was delivering real benefits.
What were the key ideas within social democracy?
- Mixed economy
- State management to incorporate Keynesian theory
- The welfare state
What is social justice?
A redistribution of wealth to limit inequality and provide and opportunity for everyone in society.
How did Crosland feel social justice could be achieved?
Managed capitalism rather than laissez-faire economics of pre-war governments.
How did social democracy feel wealth from the free market could be used?
The proceeds could ensure that proceeds are more evenly distributed throughout society.
How is social justice promoted within social democracy?
Progressive taxation
Tackling inequality within education
What did Crosland feel about grammar schools?
He felt they valued middle-class children ahead of working-class children at modern comprehensive schools.
What was the economic theory that social democracy follows?
Keynesian economics (interventionists)
When and why did Crosland’s economic theory fail?
1973 oil crisis.
James Callaghan had to ask for an emergency bailout from the IMF in 1976. Neo-liberals felt this demonstrated the hubris of social democracy in believing the state could control the entire economy at needs be.
After Callaghan asked for an IMF bailout, what happened?
He was forced to reduce public spending massively.
This stopped generous pay rises to nationalised workers.
The welfare state began to look weak.
Tax revenues fell as business struggled.
Mass-unemployment reemerged .˙. welfare demand increased.
What did Crosland realise about social justice post economic collapse?
When an economy was struggling, public spending could not increase to promote social justice.
What was the revision to social democracy?
The Third Way.
Who was the main propenent behind the Third Way?
Anthony Giddens.
What were the main proposals of the Third Way?
- Free market over state planning
- Embrace the competitive state
- Embrace community, moral responsbility and social inclusion
- Equality of opportunity over all else
What is the ‘cybernetic model’ of socialism?
The state acts as an artificial brain that manipulates organic society and economy.
Why did Giddens’ feel the Keynesian economic solutions were becoming weaker?
The emergence of globalisation.
As a result, some powers were being transferred away from the ruling government to super states such as the EU or NATO.
What did Giddens’ argue about neo-liberal economies?
They would generate greater revenues than state-managed ones, which would fund public spending to target society’s poorest.
How much did the economy grow per year under ‘New’ Labour and what did this allow?
2.4%.
Public spending grew from 39% of GDP in 1997 to 47% by 2010.
How did Giddens think the state needed to invest to promote a competition state?
Promote investment in eduaction and infrastructure.
How did New Labour fund the building work?
Private Finance Initiative (PFI)
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)
What is a Public Finance Intiative?
Private firms fund the work upfront, and the government pays the private firm back (with interest) over a long time
What is a Public-Private Partnership?
A government starts a large scale project that is completed with private funding.
What is ‘communitarianism’?
Individualism with social responsibility.
e.g. benefits are fine, but in order to receive the benefits, you must be actively looking for a job.
What was Tony Blair’s quote about the welfare state?
‘A hand-up, not a hand-out’.
What did Giddens envisage about his welfare society?
The state targets the underclass (passive poor) who are long-term recepients of welfare benefits to help them out.
How did the Third Way ideologies influence New Labour?
Positive Welfare
Welfare Society
Education (redistribution for all)
Self-reliance
Crime
Rejection of state management
Benefits of free market
Community
How did New Labour implement the Third Way ideology of positive welfare?
- National Minimum Wage
- Tax credits for workers
- 10% tax band for those on low incomes
- Educational maintenance grants for poor students
- A ‘New Deal’ to help the unemployed find employment
How did New Labour implement the Third Way ideology of the welfare society?
- Commitment to social justice in Labour Party constitution
- Targetting areas that specifically affected the underclass such as: poverty, low educational attainment, drug addiction, poor housing and parenting etc. via welfare-to-work programme.
How did New Labour implement the Third Way ideology of education as a redistribution for all?
- Academy schools introduced in 2000
- School competition in league tables to improve efficiency alongside parents being free to choose which school their child attended
- More university students attending
How did New Labour implement the Third Way ideology of self-reliance?
- University tuition fees introduced
- Welfare only granted if individuals were actively seeking work
How did New Labour implement the Third Way ideology of attitudes of crime?
- Justice system that was both authoritarian and reformist
‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’ - Introduction of ASBOs
How did New Labour implement the Third Way ideology of the rejection of state management?
- Clause IV of the Labour party constitution was amended away from a commitment to public ownership
How did New Labour implement the Third Way ideology of the benefits of free market economics?
- Not overturning privatisations from Conservative governments from 1979 - 97.
On what topic did Giddens and Webb find themselves agreeing?
The Welfare State.
If it gets too large, people wil take advantage.
‘the better you treat the unemployed in the way of means, without service, the worse the evil becomes; because it is better to do nothin than to work at low wages and conditions’
To what extent do socialists agree about the economy? (agree)
- Capitalism has some negatives that must be controlled
- There is wasteful competition in capitalism that should be replaced with co-operation
- The economy should make society more fair
To what extent do socialists agree about the economy? (disagree)
- Revolutionary socialists feel capitalism is beyond reform, evolutionary socialists feel it can be fixed
- Disagreement on the role of the state to control the economy
- Disagreement on how to run the economy (mixed, nationalisation, free market)
- Equality of outcome vs. equality of opportunity
To what extent do
