Social Liberalism: Equilibrium Between Individual Liberty And Social Justice

The further development of industrialisation led to social and economic inequality. This led to a revision of classical liberal ideas to prevent the spread of ignorance and poverty. It is suggested that modern liberals have betrayed classical liberal ideas as they embrace collectivism and diverge from classical liberalism on issues such as freedom. However, it can be argued that modern liberals have simply built on classical liberal ideas such as its commitment to the individual.

Liberalism, in general, was an ideological movement that emerged out of the ideas of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century. It embraced the ideas of individualism which were established in the Renaissance and Reformation era. The Renaissance period sparked a belief in the importance of the individual in society. It helped promote the beliefs of classical liberalism which gradually formed into the liberal ideology of the 19th century. Individuals that were waiting to get their individual rights and freedoms were allowed to finally gain liberty and power through this period of time. Classical liberalism developed

Classic liberalism is a political ideology that advocates limited government constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, individual liberties including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets. The Age of Enlightenment was a cultural movement of intellectuals in Europe and the United States, whose purpose was to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted science and intellectual interchange and opposed superstition, intolerance and abuses by church and state.

Liberalism is a major ideology in the world. Liberalism is changing at a constant rate as it is adapting to new views as the world is changing. Furthermore, the goal of the Liberalism is to ensure that “Liberal ideology is a commitment to the individual and the desire to construct a society… [Where] people can satisfy their interest and achieve fulfilment… Liberals [also] believe that human beings are, first and foremost, individuals” (Heywood 24). Liberals want to create a society in which people can achieve their goals, and where there are free to do what they please. That all individuals have the right to shape their future, and that each individual should have equal rights in both legal and political matters. There are two major types of

Liberalism started with the ideas of the Enlightenment. Two of these ideas were freedom of speech and freedom of the individual, and kept growing from there. Liberalism is the belief in a small central government and no monarchy. The liberalists defended the ideas of the definitive rights of an individual’s liberty, equality and property. The liberalists wanted their government to be established on written laws and a constitution based on equality.

Classical liberalism allow an individual to use primary social value of liberty in the political culture that extent until liberties of the others disturbed. Classical liberal ideas often form the basis for opposition to the use of government to attain social and personal objectives. They stress reliance on private the free market to determine the best outcomes rather than the private initiatives [1].

During the period beginning at the end of WWII and the early 1980’s, there was period of liberalism throughout all aspects of American politics and culture. The liberalism during this era was referred to as rights liberalism, which was predicated on the idea that the state had the responsibility to protect individuals from discrimination. This directly deviates from the classical liberalism that was very common before the Progressive Era, which was based on the idea that liberty came from the government having a set role in society and never attempting to affect aspects of society it was never prescribed. Rights liberalism also deviated from the social welfare during the 1930’s in promoting the need for a more egalitarian society. This version

It was the government role to attempt to provide support for its citizens by overcoming poverty, disease and ignorance. Modern liberals defend welfarism on the basis of equality of opportunity. If particular individuals or groups are disadvantaged by their social circumstances, then the state possess a social responsibility to reduce or remove these disadvantages to create equal life chances. The effort made by both early liberals and modern liberals to enhance equality among human beings illustrated their full support to the principle of

Social democracy is a political ideology which embraces both socialism and liberalism (Belgrave, Cheyne, & O’Brien, 2008). It is not a tightly sealed set of political values and beliefs, but a set of several. Social democracy contrasts with the ideology of neo-liberalism by identifying market failure rather than government intervention (Eichbaum & Shaw, 2008); this is why it stands for a balance between

Liberalism is a collection of political, social and economic philosophies that is centered around the rights of personal liberties, civil rights, economic freedom, controlled and democratic government and the rule of law. A controlled and democratic government is instrumental to liberalism. A controlled government is one restricted by the law. The most common example of this can be found in the United States Constitution. The Constitution has outlined the roles and restrictions of each branch of government while also setting a system of checks and balances.

Since the early nineteenth century the reformist of social democracy has hugely affected the development of social policy. Basing its principles on the two theories, socialism and liberalism it has influenced social democracy. The state is a key instrument that constructs social change, social democracy protects individual liberty and believes in state intervention to better the welfare and equality among the public. Altogether social democracy is a theory used by social democrats to transform from capitalism to a welfare state, extending the rights and freedom for citizens. Social democrats accept the confined role of markets, and the economic system. Social democracy is achieved through parliament distributing goods and implementing policies that support the welfare promoting egalitarianism, such as taxing the wealthy to redistribute wealth.

The definition of social justice is multifaceted with varying degrees of meaning. Each philosophical view that is held by the differing political group or individual classes is assigned to provide the maximum benefit to their ascribed affiliation. The conservative liberals, according to Lorenz (2014), defines social justice as pertaining to the personal freedoms afforded to its legally recognized citizens from an intrusive government. Only when individuals are unable to sustain their societal commitment to their own well-being should government assume responsibility through sanctioned public support (Lorenz 2014). Classical liberalism ideology differs slightly from the views of their conservative liberal counterparts in that they emphasize

Throughout history, philosophers have been in constant discussion in figuring out a way to respect human rights, while at the same time, preserve a well-ordered society. One of the schools of thought that demonstrate this type of society is liberalism. Liberalism is defined as “a political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual, parliamentary systems of government, nonviolent modification of political, social, or economic institutions to assure unrestricted development in all spheres of human endeavor, and governmental guarantees of individual rights and civil liberties” (Dictionary, 2017). Although most philosophers such as Immanuel Kant believe a society can be fully emancipated through the political thought of

Capitalists and supporters of democracy believe that socialism and modern liberalism are detrimental to economic progress. Because prices of goods and wage of workers is controlled directly by the government, privately-owned companies and institutions cannot flourish under a socialist or modern liberalist government. People who value freedom of speech and human rights likewise oppose socialism and modern liberalism, because they believe that such ideologies limit a citizen’s right to choose which products to buy, what job to take, what religious belief to espouse. Even though modern liberalism is more subtle and suave than socialism, it still ends up giving too much power to the government in the guise of economic, political, and social security.

Liberalism is one of the most multifaceted and widely implemented ideologies among the popular political ideologies. Most of these variations of liberations have stark changes to existing policy or new policy which dilutes the central ideas and values of classical liberalism. This analysis will discuss the implications on the economy, society and the central values, the role of the state and the public vs. private aspects of classical liberalism. The analysis will justify the statement, ‘Classical liberalism is the most favourable form of liberalism as it transcends the inhibitory factors such as sectarian values and emissive state interference and advances the state of individual and social freedoms’. Classical Liberalism is an ideology