Modern LiberalismCore Concepts

Individualism

Individuality• Self-fulfilment achieved through the realisation of an

individual’s distinctive or unique identity; that which distinguishes one person from all others

• This is created via refinement of our intellectual, moral or aesthetic qualities to enable self-development

John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill

• Lower pleasures• Higher Pleasures

• People are not always the best judge of what is good for them (self interest)• More educated need to decide on behalf of an

ignorant population

Rule Utilitarianism to enable Law

• Developed from Act Utilitarianism• An act is right if it conforms to a rule which, if

generally followed, produces good consequences

• Should the greatest pleasure principle of the majority always be the rule?• Mass society maximising the pleasure of the

majority would it be the best society to live in ?

Positive Freedom

T. H Green• The unrestrained pursuit of profit, as advocated by Classical

Liberalists, had given rise to new forms of poverty and injustice

• The economic liberty of the few had blighted the life chances of the many

State of Nature• Man is not egotistical but empathetic – our egoism is

constrained by elements of altruism• The individual possesses social responsibilities not just

individual ones – this view is clearly influence by socialists• Green’s views are described as ‘Social Liberalism’

Negative Freedom• Negative freedom merely removes external constraints on the

individual, giving the individual freedom of choiceE.g. a business wishing to maximise profits can employ the cheapest labour justified by negative freedom• Economic freedom can therefore lead to exploitation and so

freedom in the marketplace is an inadequate conception of freedom

• Acknowledges only legal and physical restraints on liberty

Positive Freedom• Ability to develop and attain individuality• Realise individual potential, attain skills and knowledge• To achieve fulfilment• Liberty may also be threatened by social disadvantage and

inequality

The State• An enabling state• An increasingly wide range of social and economic

responsibilities• Society is still not more important than the individual -

creating a distinction between modern liberalism and socialism

• The state cannot force people to be good but it can provide the conditions in which they can make morally responsible decisions

• People can only be self-reliant if the state creates the social conditions to allow it

Social Liberalism

Equality of Opportunity

• People are disadvantaged by their social circumstances• This can be created via equal life chances• Social security, health, education etc• The creation of a welfare state - a state that takes primary

responsibility for the social welfare of its citizen

Beveridge Report• The Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Social

Insurance and Allied Services• Was an influential document in the founding of the welfare state

in the UK• Published in December 1942• Chaired by William Beveridge, an economist, who identified five

"Giant Evils" in society:• Squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, and disease• Proposed widespread reform to the system of social welfare to

address these• Highly popular with the public, the report formed the basis for

the post-war reforms known as the Welfare State, which include the expansion of National Insurance and the creation of the National Health Service

Roosevelt and the ‘New Deal’• The ‘New Deal’ intended to alleviate economic want and joblessness,

provide greater opportunities, and restore prosperity• Work relief programs provided jobs• Tennessee Valley Authority were created to promote economic

development• A Social security system was established

• The New Deal consisted of three types of programs designed to produce "Relief, Recovery and Reform“:• Relief was the immediate effort to help the one-third of the population

that was hardest hit by the depression. • Recovery was the goal of restoring the economy to pre-depression levels• Reform was based on the assumption that the depression was caused by

the inherent instability of the market and that government intervention was necessary to rationalise and stabilise the economy, and to balance the interests of farmers, business and labour

‘New Frontier’ Policies• John F. Kennedy introduced a series of social and economic

reforms:• Unemployment benefits were expanded• Aid was provided to cities to improve housing and

transportation• The agricultural act raised farmers’ incomes• Anti-poverty legislation was passed• Increases in social security benefits• Increases in the minimum wage

• Expansions and improvements were made in Social Security• Food stamps for low-income Americans were reintroduced• Food distribution to the poor was increased• Expansion in school milk and school lunch distribution

‘Great Society’ programme

• Lyndon Johnson’s domestic reforms programme carried on from Kennedy• Kennedy’s reforms were not completed due to his death• Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms• The elimination of poverty• The elimination of racial injustice

• New major spending programs on:• Education• Medical care• Urban problems• Transportation

Rawls ‘A Theory of Justice’• Developed a defence of redistribution and welfare based on

the ideas of ‘equality as fairness’• If people were unaware of their social position and

circumstances then they would view an egalitarian society as ‘fairer’ than an in-egalitarian one, on the grounds that the desire to avoid poverty is greater than the attraction of riches

• Veil of Ignorance

Economic Management

John Maynard Keynes• Deliver prosperity by managing their economies• The Great Depression and the Wall Street Crash illustrated the

dangers of a laissez faire economy• After WW2 virtually all western countries adopted policies of

economic intervention• Keynes argued that the level of economic activity is

determined by the total amount of aggregate demand in the economy

• He suggested that governments could manage their economies by influencing the level of aggregate demand

Keynesian Economics• Government spending is an injection of demand into the

economy• Taxation is a withdrawal from the economy – it reduces

aggregate demand and dampens down economic activity• Governments should ‘reflate’ their economies at times of high

unemployment by either increasing public spending or by cutting taxes

• Unemployment could be solved by government intervention – in this case by running a budget deficit (the government overspends)

• Tax and spend policies