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A Level Politics > Liberalism > Flashcards

Liberalism Flashcards

1
Q

Who are the 5 liberalist key thinkers?

A 
John Locke
Mary Wollstonecraft
J.S Mill
John Rawls
Betty Friedan
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2
Q

What was Locke’s most important work?

A

Two Treatises of Government (1960)

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3
Q

What are Locke’s two key liberal ideas he developed?

A

Social contract theory

Limited government

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4
Q

What is the social contract theory?

A

Society, state and government are based on a voluntary agreement or contract.
Citizens obey the state’s laws on the understanding that the state will guarantee them certain rights.
If these rights are not upheld by the state, the governed are no longer obliged to obey the state’s laws.

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5
Q

What is a limited government?

A

Government should be limited by a constitution’s rules and procedures, and be based on consent from below.
The concept of limited government rejected the arbitrary rule of medieval monarchs and the idea of ‘divine right’ to rule.

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6
Q

What can Locke be used for?

A

State

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7
Q

Locke: The state and social contract theory

A

Rejected the idea the ordinary people were ‘subjects’ of the state who were expected to submit to the monarch’s wishes.
The ‘true’ state would be established by humans to serve their interests and it would be based on voluntary consent.
The social contract is based on the reason that rational people would not willingly submit to arbitrary rule because it was not in their interests to do so.

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8
Q

Locke: The state and limited government

A

Due to the contractual nature of the state, the government is limited to representing the interests of the people and gaining their ongoing consent.
Limited nature of the state would be achieved by dispersing its powers between the executive, legislative and judiciary- this ensures the state isnt overbearing.

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9
Q

What was Locke’s politicial position?

A

He was not a democrat in the full sense as he accepted that the right to property led to inequality but he did believe in the people’s right to remove an unjust government- this is often cited as an influence of the US Declaration of Rights.

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10
Q

What were Wollstonecraft’s key ideas?

A

Reason

Formal equality

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11
Q

What is reason?

A

Women are rational and independent beings of capable reason.

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12
Q

What is formal equality?

A

In order to be free, women should enjoy full civil liberties and be allowed to have a career.

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13
Q

What is Wollstonecraft’s best-known book?

A

A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)

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14
Q

What can Wollstonecraft be used for?

A

Human nature
The state
Society

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15
Q

Wollstonecraft and human nature.

A

Human nature should be viewed in optimistic terms and, since both men and women are able to act in an rational way, women should be entitled to the same rights as men.

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16
Q

Wollstonecraft and the state.

A

18th century state measures and social attitudes assumed women were not ratiomal and so they could not enjoy individual freedom.
Few women owned property or had rtewarding jobs, and, within marriage, they were not legally independent.
Women were not permitted to vote, which contradicted the concept of ‘government by consent’.

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17
Q

Wollstonecraft and society.

A

To be equal and free, women should enjoy full civil liberties and be able to pursue a career, rather than be economically dependent on men.
Formal education was vital in this process since it would give women (and men) self-respect and help them to realise their potential.
Marriage had to be a truly equal partnership so that women could choose freely between having a family or a career.

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18
Q

What are J.S Mill’s key ideas?

A

Harm Principle

Tolerance

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19
Q

What is the Harm Principle?

A

Individuals should be free to do anything except harm other people.
This was lined out in his book, On Liberty (1859)

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20
Q

What is tolerance?

A

Being prepared to accept values, customs and beliefs with which one usually diagrees with.

21
Q

What can Mill’s ideas be used for?

A

Human nature
Society
The state

22
Q

What is the harm pricniple closely linked to?

A

The classical concepts of negative freedom, limited government and tolerance.

23
Q

Mill and human nature.

A

Human actions are either ‘self-regarding’ (affecting only the person undertaking the action) or ‘other-regarding’ (affecting other people).
Self-regarding actions can include religious observance whereas other-regarding actions can include violence.

24
Q

Mill and society.

A

Mill endorsed tolerance and the right to hold a minority view- a widely-held opinion did not always make it correct.

25
Q

Mill and the state.

A

The state or other individuals should not interfere with self-regarding actions because they do not harm other people.
The state and other individuals should curb other-regarding actions if they harm the freedom of others.
Self-regarding actions and ‘unharmgful’ other-regarding actions should be tolerated by the state.
Tolerance of diverse views would promote new ideas and expose flawed ones.

26
Q

What are John Rawls’ key ideas?

A

Theory of justice

The veil of ignorance

27
Q

Was Rawls a modern liberal?

A

Yes

28
Q

What was Rawls’ key work?

A

A Theory of Justice (1971)

29
Q

What is the theory of justice?

A

Society must be just and guarantee each citizen a life worth living.

30
Q

What is the veil of ignorance?

A

Individuals agree on the type of society they want from a position where they lack knowledge of their own position in society.

31
Q

What can Rawls be used to discuss?

A

State

Society

32
Q

Rawls: society.

A

To create a just society, individuals need formal equality and greater economic and social equality.

33
Q

Rawls: the state.

A

An enabling state is required to redistribute wealth, increase public spending and adopt progressive taxation to create equality.
The state should improve the condition of the poor but inequalities of outcome would remain to reflect individual differences. This is tolerable as long as deprivation does not worseh.

34
Q

Rawls: society/state.

A

Humans, being rational and empathetic, would devise a new society where the poor received better treatment.
People would choose a fairer more equal society (partly because the ‘veil’ would prevent them knowing their position in society). The enabling state required would be based on government by consent.

35
Q

Rawls: human nature/society.

A

Most people would still expect scope for individual freedom. So, although the state would improve the condition of the the poor, the gap between the top and bottom of society would not automatically be reduced.

36
Q

What is Betty Friedan’s major work?

A

The Feminine Mistique (1963).

37
Q

What are Friedan’s key ideas?

A

Legal equality

Equal opportunity

38
Q

What is legal equality?

A

Women and men are of equal worth and equally capable and opressive laws and social views must be rejected.

39
Q

What is equal opportunity?

A

Women are restricted in their choices and opportunities by social conditioning through the family and agencies such as the education system and the mass media.

40
Q

What can Friedan be used for?

A

The state

Society

41
Q

Society and Freidan.

A

Conditioning emphasises unfulfilling domestic roles rather than careers.
More extensive opportunities and a shift in social attitudes is needed.

42
Q

The state and Friedan.

A

Legal measures will secure greater equality of opportunity for females and enable women to compete with men on equal terms.
Legislation and official regulations should criminalise discrimination. This will prevent women from having their freedoms ‘harmed’ by others.
Legal change is the only realistic way to make progress; confrontation is counter-productive.
Legal equality represents a modern form of the longstanding liberal belief in tolerance, as advocated by social liberalism.

43
Q

Which key thinkers are used for the state?

A 
Locke
Wollstonecraft
Mill
Rawls
Friedan
44
Q

Which key thinkers are used for economy?

A

N/A

45
Q

Which key thinkers are used for society?

A

Wollstonecraft
Mill
Rawls
Friedan

46
Q

Which key thinkers are used for human nature?

A

Wollstonecraft
Mill
Possibly Rawls.

47
Q

Name the main classical liberal key thinker?

A

Locke

48
Q

Which key thinker signalled the transition from classical to modern liberalism

A

J.S Mill

A Level Politics (18 decks)

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