Inequality, Order, Hierarchy And Authority Flashcards
What is a humans most basic need?
Order and security
What did Hobbes say?
On one hand individuals desire freedom and rights and on the other hand are competitive and self seeking
What did Hobbes argue would happen if individuals’s desire for freedom, rights with their competitiveness and self serving nature would lead to?
An intolerable situation
How did Hobbes argue life would be without authority?
Nasty brutish and short
Why would life be nasty brutish and short?
People would consider themselves to be in competition with each other and live in fear of the results of society
What did Hobbes believe that humans would do when faced with the dilemma of competitive society
Humans would choose to sacrifice much of their freedom and rights in favour of a secure existence
What did Hobbes argue was the only way to ensure a secure existence?
To allow an absolute ruler to govern and protect us from each other
Since Hobbes, what have conservative favoured?
Strong government
Finish the sentence:
Conservatives favour the community’s need…
For security over individuals rights
finish the sentence:
Until the 18th century, the idea of societal hierarchy was
Taken as natural and inevitable
What happened in the 19th and 20th century?
Conservatives gradually modified their view of the natural structure of society
Why did conservatives modify their view of the natural structure of society in the 19th and 20th century?
Society was more fluid than it had ever been and people had begun to see themselves as individuals rather than as members of a social class
What had occurred by the 1980s?
Conservatives had abandoned views of hierarchisation society but kept the belief that individuals are unequal in terms of their abilities and potentialities
What is social equality rejected as?
Undesireable and unachievable
Why is social equality undesirable and unachievable?
Power, status and property are always unequally distributed
What is inequality an inevitable feature of?
Organic society
What did Burke embrace?
The “natural aristocracy”
Define natural aristocracy
The idea that talent and leadership are innate qualities that cannot be acquired through effort or self-advancement
What do each of the various classes and groups have?
Their own specific roles
Why is genuine social equality a myth?
There is a natural inequality of wealth and social position, justified by a corresponding inequality of social responsibilities
Finish the sentence:
Hierarchy and organicism have invested in traditional conservatism…
A pronounced tendency toward paternalism
What is the belief in hierarchy strengthened by?
The conservative emphasis on authority
Why is there a tension between liberalism and conservatism?
Conservatives do not accept the liberal belief that authority arises out of contracts made by free individuals
How do conservatives believe that authority develops?
Naturally
