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believed that humans are inherently violent and self-serving.
To have a functioning society, individuals must give up their freedom to a powerful king or dictator. (Leviathan)
feared individualism, because he felt people were selfish and would only look out for themselves at the expense of everyone else.
Believed that humans are intelligent and rational.
Thought people should be able to make their own decisions as long as they didn’t harm others.
Thought that the point of government was to protect life, liberty, and property which is why people agree to give up total freedom to live in a civil society.
Thought government should have limited control and should have popular consent.
Believed that humans were inherently good but have been corrupted by society.
Thought private property and ownership made people jealous and corrupt.
Wanted to return to a state of nature where people would be the most free.
He was opposed to governments and called for laws to be created directly by the people.
Also a big fan of limited government!
wrote an essay (“On Liberty) in 1859 stating that governments only had three things to do:
preserve the rule of law
protect private property
ensure the security of the individual
Adam Smith was the guy who came up with the idea of the “invisible hand”.
→ He thought that by people acting in their own self-interest would lead to a stronger economy that would make everyone better off. Essentially, the “invisible hand” of self-interest would actually help everyone
A hugely influential book on economics in the early Industrial revolution. It made an argument for self-interest stating that:
if people work for themselves everyone, including the state, will benefit.
individual self-interest in a free market would lead to a stronger economy and benefit society
(P.R.I.C.E.S.) Individualist principles
Private property
Rule of law
Individual rights and freedoms
Competition
Economic freedom
Self-interest
Collectivist principles (P.R.I.N.C.E.):
Public property
Collective responsibility
Collective interest
Norms
Cooperation
Economic equality
a system of trade and colonialism that tries to promote the power of the state at the expense of other powerful states.
mercantilism was the system that existed in Britain prior to industrialization and the acceptance of capitalism.
mercantilism generated a great deal of wealth for ruling monarchs, but didn’t evenly re-distribute that wealth amongst common people.
belief
That the amount of wealth in the world is fixed.
There’s only so much wealth to go around, so countries should do whatever they can to get the biggest piece of the pie.
believes in wealth extraction (wealth is a fixed amount) \n
Adam Smith favored limited government in the economy, thinking that people would take care of each other better than the government could
He thought that since people were generally poor, uneducated and mistreated under mercantilism, capitalism would do a better job at improving the world than greedy governments.
According to this idea, the government has two jobs:
maintain rule of law and enforce contracts (police forces and lawyers)
provide some public works, some education (because you need workers that can read) and road maintenance (since you need some way to transport all those new consumer goods and no railways didn’t exist yet)
Jethro Tull invented the seed drill which made planting crops way easier
Mechanized agriculture → now less people can do the same amount of work
Enclosure Act: an act passed by British Parliament that put collectively held land into the hands of individuals, making agriculture more efficient.
Allowed one owner to have more land so it could be used more efficiently
All these changes made the Industrial Revolution possible (can’t have factories if everyone needs to be farming)
\n
:a movement born out of the ideas of the Enlightenment (political parent) and the Industrial Revolution (economic parent)
classical liberalism is a belief that the rights and freedoms of individuals should be the foundation of society.
it emphasizes a capitalist free-market economy
it was characterized by limited government intervention \n
18th and 19th centuries)
-the power of the market
-individual reward for individual initiative
-freedom to pursue personal wealth
-individual responsibility for success or failure
-progress, inventiveness, innovation, efficiency
\n The most long lasting, impactful revolution ever!
The large labour force and mechanization of production allowed for large scale production of goods and the development of the factory system
Goods became less expensive and quality improved
Philosophy that supports socialism where political, social, and economic organizations and production are owned by the whole as a community in opposition to private ownership through the means of gradual democratic processes. \n Democratic socialism is primarily against private property and competition where production is deemed as only for the use of society and not for private profit.
The self-interest of the collective were more important than individual self-interest.
Socialism rejected classical liberalism however, democratic socialism supports socialism through democracy.
capitalism corrupts and the ownership of property which is coupled with means of production are socially and publicly owned.
Economic equality is a core value thus explaining the common ownership of property.
promotes democracy as this creates political freedom for all citizens.
society social services would be a core focus, with free education and healthcare being a major belief.
Workers of the world, unite! ... You have nothing to lose but your chains!”
The Communist Manifesto
As Marxism is based on collectivism, it is definitely a rejection of classical liberalism.
Unlike other ideologies like modern liberalism, it didn’t want to take capitalism and make it fairer… it wanted to completely replace it.
Marxism completely rejects most of the individualist principles upon which classical liberalism is based. For instance:
private property → replaced with all public property
economic freedom → replaced with a classless society (economic equality)
self-interest → replaced with people working for the good of society (collective interest)
policies and practices of labour unions, those particularly concerned with protecting and furthering rights of workers
Belief that workers should have equal voice that speaks directly for their interests and reflects their own perspectives
Belief that liberalism requires equal respect for all members of society
More of a movement rather than an ideology with certain key thinkers
Unionism is based on collectivism
Response to classical liberalism:
Wanted to change the representation and power of the workers rights (Collective interest + collective responsibility)
Wanted to change the capitalist control of workplace legislation and wanted more government protection and equality in workplace (Economic equality)
The government was representative of all people in a society, living and in the past
Rare instances of change had to honour the people of the past
A hierarchy of power in society is necessary because not all people are equal in abilities
The main purpose of government and society is to be stable for all those inside
People need others of higher power to govern them (rejection)
Also against monarchy and dictatorship
Not all people are equals (rejection)
Business favored policy that believes private sectors have the ability to do a better job at providing social welfare programs such as healthcare and housing programs, than the federal government.
\n Welfare capitalism is based on the ideologies of individualism like self-interest
Concept of privately owned business offering welfare services to employees
welfare capitalism began to be recognized as classical liberal economy regulated with some government legislation that provided greater protections for workers.
Encapsulates the efforts made by industrialists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to ensure better working environment
Note 
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