Society

Question 1

Society shapes people

Answer 1

• people are shaped by the society they grow up in. Society is therefore key in socialist thinking as opposed to the individual in liberalism.
• the type of society and economy will impact on individuals.
• a persons position in society and the level of equality/ inequality in society will determine their chances of reaching their potential.
• a fair society will see all its people flourish whilst an unequal one will see the potential of the disadvantaged damaged.

Question 2

Class

Answer 2

• Socialist focus on the idea that society is made up of distinct social groups called classes.
• socialists may talk of higher, middle and working class or the bourgeoise and the proletariat.
• position of people in society is key to their chances and outlook.
• socialists disagree over the implications of class distinction and whether they need to be narrowed or destroyed. Social democrats focus much less on class divisions.

Question 3

Class struggle

Answer 3

• Marx and Engels focus on class struggle. They argued that the higher classes exploited the lower classes. As time went by the working class would become conscious of being exploited and rise up to overthrow those who exploited them
• Democratic socialists focused very much in class politics with the Labour Party of the 1940’s-1970’s standing for workers rights and redistribution of wealth.
• Social Democrats don’t focus on class struggle and instead on class consensus. Labour under Blair sought to win votes from the middle and upper classes.

Question 4

Social justice/ equality of outcome

Answer 4

• equality of opportunity is described by Liberals is not enough. What society needs is social justice.
• having the state treat everyone the same in terms of freedom of speech, religion and press does not go far enough, there’s no point having the right to healthcare or education if you can’t afford it. For there to be social justice there must be a good basic standard of living and according to some socialists complete equality of outcome.
• socialists talk of inequality being passed from generation to generation. A working class person will have fewer opportunities and therefore be less likely to be economically successful and therefore their children will have fewer opportunities.
• only when the gap between classes is removed will there be fraternity and cooperation as inequality breeds resentment, greed and therefore division.

Question 5

Cultural revolution

Answer 5

• socialist ideas about uniformity in society and removal of inequality has lead to some extreme policies by socialist governments.
• e.g. cultural revolution in China (1966-69) that aimed to remove all traces of pre-socialist culture from Chinese society.