Different Types of Liberalism Flashcards
What are the 2 strands of liberalism?
Classical liberalism
Modern liberalism
What do both strands of liberalism do?
Uphold the core values
What was the timespan of classical liberalism?
2 centuries (late 17th - late 19th century)
How is classical liberalism divided?
Early classical liberalism
Later classical liberalism
When was early classical liberalism popular?
Late 17th and 18th century
What did early classical liberalism attempt to do?
Relate the core beliefs of liberalism to the political and economical climate at the time
How did early classical liberalism attempt to relate the core beliefs?
Revolutionary Potential
Negative Liberty
Minimal State
Laissez-Faire Capitalism
What is revolutionary potential?
The belief that such ideas required vigorous argument and revolutionary change in order for them to work in society
Give an event which shows revolutionary potential
Glorious Revolution of 1688
It secured a constitutional government and ended a concentration of political power
What did Mary Wollstonecraft argue?
The treatment of women during this period was a reason for individual liberty
Why did Mary Wollstonecraft argue for individual liberty for women?
Wollstonecraft believed that English society portrayed women as “emotional creatures, suited to marriage and motherhood, and little else”
What is negative liberty?
A notion of freedom that involves individuals being left alone to pursue their destiny.
Any attempt to interfere with individual actions may be judged an infringement of liberty
Voltaire and other early classical liberalists argued that negative liberty was vital to what?
Vital in self-determination and self reliance
For early classical liberalists, why would “negative liberty” be a problem?
It would have consequences for both the size of the state and emerging “science” of economics
What is a minimal state?
A feature that reflected the concept of “negative liberty” by minimising state activities
Give Thomas Jefferson’s summary of a minimal state
“The government that is best, is that which governs least”
“When the government grows, our liberty withers”
What is Laissez-faire capitalism?
An economic system which allows private enterprise and capitalism to operate with no or little interference from the state
What does “laissez-faire” mean?
Let it happen
What did Adam Smith argue about capitalism in his “Wealth of Nations”?
Capitalism had a limitless capacity to enrich society and the wealth of individuals would “trickle down” to the rest of the population (as long as the state took a “laissez-faire” approach)
What radical ideas did Adam Smith advocate for in 1776?
Free trade between nations which had protected domestic producers but became orthodox in the following century
When was later classical liberalism popular?
Early - mid 19th century
How was society different in the 1800s and how did it affect political ideologies?
More industrialized
Most individuals lived and worked in urban areas
Growing sense of class consciousness
resulted in a growing interest in democracy and socialism
What challenge did later liberalists face?
Keeping their core ideas revelant to society
Who was Jeremy Bentham and how did he keep core ideas relevant to society?
“Father” of utilitarian philosophy
He believed that individuals should “maximise pleasure and minimise pain” but acknowledged this could lead to more clashes.
Bentham also promoted democracy and claim the governments would only listen to the “greatest number” if they were elected
Who was Herbert Spencer and how did he keep core ideas relevant to society?
Spencer acknowledged the importance of self-help but also recognized the presence of “the feeble, the feckless and the failing” in many victorian cities.
From this he feared state power would grow and applied Darwins “natural selection” in that negative freedom would be “survival of the fittest” and individual freedom could thrive
Who was J.S Mill and how did he keep core ideas relevant to society?
He updated Locke’s idea of “representative government” to “representative democracy” in which elected representatives that make decisions on behalf of others which he argued was more conducive to the “tyranny of the majority”
What was developmental individualism?
Introduced by J.S Mill
The belief that individuals should focus on what they could become, rather than what they are now.
How did Mill’s developmental individualism promote education?
Mill argued that universal suffrage must be preceded by universal education hoping to produce a liberal consensus which would safeguard toleration, reason and individualism
What else did J.S Mill promote?
Political education
Opportunities for debate
Which centuries was modern liberalism popular?
Late 19th century - present
What are the characteristics of modern liberalism?
Positive liberty
Enlarged state
Liberal democracy
Social liberalism
