social ideology and identity

* ideology

* What is an ideology? What does it include?

A set of principles or ideas that explains your world and your place in it. It is based on certain assumptions about human nature and society, and has an interpretation of the past, an explanation of the present, and a vision for the future. 

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*Put more simply:*

An understanding of how the world is and how it ought to be.

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Thomas Hobbes

* 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.

John Locke

* 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.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

* 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.

John Stuart Mill

* Also a big fan of limited government! 
* wrote an essay (“On Liberty) in 1859 stating that governments only had three things to do:


1. preserve the rule of law
2. protect private property
3. ensure the security of the individual

Montesquieu

Montesquieu believed that a **government should not be controlled by a particular group**, influencing the government to consist of 3 branches of government in separation of powers. Also, he influenced the Constitution to create a federal system, the national and state governments to divide their power.

Adam Smith

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

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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

Karl Marx

In “The Communist Manifesto”, Karl Marx wrote “the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: *Abolition of private property”*

\n → He believed it’s not fair that the owners of companies get all the profits when it’s the WORKERS doing the labor. As a result, he thought that property should be **public** so that workers would profit from their own labor.

Robert Owen

Owen firmly believed that **people were the product of their environment**, which fueled his support for education and labor reform. His views made Owen a pioneer in the promotion of investment in human capital. Owen's second pillar was his opposition to religion.

Edmund Burke

Burke's religious thought was grounded in his belief that **religion is the foundation of civil society**. He sharply criticized deism and atheism and emphasized Christianity as a vehicle of social progress. Born in Ireland to a Protestant father and Catholic mother, Burke vigorously defended the Church of England, but also demonstrated sensitivity to Catholic concerns. He linked the conservat

* human nature

Are humans good, bad, both, or neither

social contract

Both Locke and Rousseau believed in the idea of a “social contract”, where people give up a bit of freedom in order to live in a society.

* political spectrum

dictatorship democrats / Republicans reactionary

radical social change status quo fascism

communism socialism conservatism dictatorship

radical

 a person or political party who supports immediate and sweeping change, often through violent means.

rapid change with violence if necessary revolutionary

moderate

a person or political party with a middle view. gradual change as needed

reactionary

a person or political party that supports a change back to the previous system, often through violent means. 

\n rapid return to old way, with violence if necessary

communism

THE GOVERNMENT OWNS EVERYTHING!!! left

fascism

an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.

* What is individualism? 

The idea that the rights of **individuals** is the most important thing. 

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What is collectivism?

The idea that what’s good for **the group** is the most important thing. 

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 (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

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* economic spectrum

← more government control of economy

 less government control of economy →

communism, mixed economy, *laisses* fair capitalism \n Korea, China, Sweden, Canada , USA

more collectivist more individualist

* common good

 something that benefits the well-being of society as a whole. 

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Good for me, good for you, good for all of us. So good for individuals **and** the group. 

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* mixed economy

GOVERNMENT CONTROLS SOME STUFF, LEAVES OTHER STUFF TO THE MARKET

Classical Liberalism

mostly individualist.Mainly individualist, emphasizes laissez-faire capitalism.

Modern Liberalism

mix of individualist and collectivist.Includes more collectivism although still very individualist. Emphasized more of a mixed economy.

Democratic Socialism

is **a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a market socialist economy**

* Ideological spectrum
* Understand how the political and economic spectrums can be combined into one left-right ideological spectrum.
* Know where certain countries, political parties or beliefs would lie on the spectrum

Left -Tolerationism , higher taxes Community -communism, socialism, liberalism ,conservative, capitalism, fascism

China, soviet union, Sweden, NDP, Canada ,Liberal, Conservative, Republicans, Nazi Germany,

right-Authoritarianism , individual ,lower taxes

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Radical , social change, status quo ,reactionary

radical ,progressive, moderate ,conservative ,reactionary

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* Liberal bubble

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democratic socialism , modern liberalism, classic liberalism.

* Liberalism 
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**A collection of ideologies committed to the principle of the dignity and freedom of the individual as the basis for society.** 

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* Mercantilism

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

* Capitalism

capitalism believes in wealth creation capitalism favors competition

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* Limited Government

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:


1. maintain rule of law and enforce contracts (police forces and lawyers)
2. 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)

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T INTERVENE. AT ALL. 

more individualist

The Agricultural Revolution

* **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)

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* Enlightenment
* How did the Enlightenment contribute to classical liberalism? 

\n 18th century)

\-the Age of Reason

\-the worth of the individual, natural and inalienable rights

\-democratic values

\-authority rests with the people not the ruler

**Major thinkers** include Adam Smith, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu

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* Classical Liberalism
* What were the main beliefs of classical liberalism?

\: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

* The Industrial Revolution
* How did the Industrial Revolution relate to the emergence of Classical Liberalism? 

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

* Chartists 

They believed all men to have the vote, so that voting should be every year and not every 5 years.

They saw themselves fighting against political corruption and for themselves in an industrial society

They believed in peaceful protest and collective action to bring about political change. They organized mass rallies, marches and petitions to pressure the government to enact reforms. 

They were all poor men who had no right to vote

\n Chartists believed that the individual rights promised by classical liberalism did not benefit enough people

* Many chartist believed that capitalism was responsible for the poverty and inequality experienced by working-class people and advocated for greater interventions in the economy

* Utopian Socialists 

A utopian socialist society is based on business owners needing to treat their workers better. Robert Owen believed utopian socialism would benefit workers and eradicate poverty. They valued the workers as people, not machines. In summary, He believed that a utopian society would include perfect working and living conditions, and people would be able to get educated. He also believed all of these would be achieved by society taking care of the citizens’ social and economic well-being. 

\n Utopian socialism was a response to classical liberalism. Robert Owen wanted a peaceful and democratic switch into his ideology. Robert wanted to change the leaders’ thinking rather than overthrowing the system via a revolution. On a modern day scale, he would have been on the left side of the spectrum closer to modern liberalism rather than classical liberalism.

* Democratic Socialists 

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.

Marxists

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)** 

Unionists

* 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) 

Classical Conservatives

* 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)

Welfare Capitalists

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 

Feminists

Feminist believe in equity a common misconception is the belief that feminist want female superiority. Feminist fight for women's rights and freedoms. Feminist value equality, empowerment, freedom of voice  and freedom of choice.

Feminist ideas have roots in liberalism both advocating for the rights of an individual. Feminist often take part in democracy wanting to vote in those who have women's rights in mind, as well as advocating for women to take those positions in power.

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