core political ideas- thinkers Flashcards
Thomas Hobbes
conservatism
Order – an ordered society should balance the human need
to lead a free life.
* Human nature – humans are needy, vulnerable and easily led
astray in attempts to understand the world around them.
Edmund Burke
conservatism
Change – political change should be undertaken with great
caution and organically.
* Tradition and empiricism – practices passed down for
generations should be respected.
Michael Oakeshott
conservatism
Human imperfection – suggestion that society is
unpredictable and humans are imperfect.
* Pragmatism – belief that conservatism is about being
pragmatic.
Ayn Rand
conservatism
Objectivism – this advocates the virtues of rational
self-interest.
* Freedom – this supports a pure, laissez-faire capitalist
economy.
Robert Nozick
conservatism
Libertarianism – based on Kant’s idea that individuals in
society cannot be treated as a thing, or used against their will
as a resource.
* Self-ownership – individuals own their bodies, talents,
abilities and labour.
John Locke
liberalism
Social contract theory – society, state and government
are based on a theoretical voluntary agreement.
* Limited government – that government should be limited
and based on consent from below.
Mary Wollstonecraft
liberalism
Reason – women are rational and independent beings
capable of reason.
* Formal equality – in order to be free, women should
enjoy full civil liberties and be allowed to have a career
John Stuart Mill
liberalism
Harm principle – that individuals should be free to do
anything except harm other individuals.
* Tolerance – belief that the popularity of a view does not
necessarily make it correct.
John Rawls
liberalism
Theory of justice – opinion that society must be just and
guarantee each citizen a life worth living.
* The veil of ignorance – a hypothetical scenario where
individuals agree on the type of society they want from a
position where they lack knowledge of their own position
in society.
Betty Friedan
liberalism
Legal equality – women are as capable as men and that
oppressive laws and social views must be overturned.
* Equal opportunity – women are being held back from
their potential because of the limited number of jobs
that are ‘acceptable’ for women.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
socialism
The centrality of social class – the ideas of historical
materialism, dialectic change and revolutionary class
consciousness.
* Humans as social beings – how nature is socially determined
and how true common humanity can be expressed only under
communism
Beatrice Webb
socialism
‘The inevitability of gradualness’ – the gradualist
parliamentary strategy for achieving evolutionary socialism.
* The expansion of the state – that this, and not the overthrow
of the state, is critical in delivering socialism.
Rosa Luxemburg
socialism
Evolutionary socialism and revisionism – this is not possible as
capitalism is based on an economic relationship of exploitation.
* Struggle by the proletariat for reform and democracy – this
creates the class consciousness necessary for the overthrow of
the capitalist society and state.
Anthony Crosland
socialism
The inherent contradictions in capitalism – does not drive
social change and managed capitalism can deliver social
justice and equality.
* State-managed capitalism – includes the mixed economy, full
employment and universal social benefits.
Anthony Giddens
socialism
The rejection of state intervention – acceptance of the free
market in the economy, emphasis on equality of opportunity
over equality, responsibility and community over class conflict.
* The role of the state – is social investment in infrastructure
and education not economic and social engineering.
