socialism and human nature knowledge flashcards

What is the Socialist view of human nature?

Socialism holds a unifying vision of human beings as social creatures, capable of overcoming social and economic problems by drawing on the power of the community rather than individual effort. This is a collectivist vision, stressing the capacity of human beings for collective action, their willingness and …

ability to pursue goals by working together, as opposed to striving for personal interest. Most would teach English metaphysical poet John Donne - ‘No man is an island entire of itself, every man {...} a part of a main’. Human beings are comrades, brothers or sisters, tied to one another by bonds of a common humanity. This is expressed in the principle of fraternity. 

Socialists are less willing than liberals/conservatives to assume that human nature is …

unchanging and fixed from birth. Rather, they believe that it is malleable or ‘plastic’, shaped by the experiences and circumstances of social life.

How is a human personality formed?

In a debate of nature vs nurture, socialists side resolutely with nurture. Socialists believe that from birth, even in the womb, each individual is …

subjected to experiences that mould and condition his/her personality. All human skills and attributes are learnt from society, from the fact that we stand upright, the language we speak etc.

A clear distinction is drawn between the ‘individual’ and ‘society’, socialists believe that the individual is inseparable from society. Human beings are neither self-sufficient nor self-contained; to think of them as separate or atomised ‘individuals’ is absurd. Individuals can only be …

understood and understand themselves, through the social groups to which they belong. Human behaviour therefore tells us more about the society in which they live and have been brought up than about abiding or immutable human nature. 

Collectivism - where and why?

Collectivism is the belief that human endeavour is of greater practical and moral value than individual self-striving. It reflects the idea that human nature has a social core and implies that social groups, whether ‘classes’, ‘nations’ or ‘races’ are meaningful bodies. Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin suggested that the principal reason why the human species had survived and prospered was because of its capacity for ‘mutual aid’. Socialists believe human beings can be motivated by …

moral incentives and not merely by material incentives. In theory capitalism rewards individuals for the work they do: the harder they work, or the more abundant their skills, the greater their rewards. The moral incentive to work hard is the desire to contribute to the common good, which develops out of sympathy and responsibility. Collectivism can be seen in China during the Cultural Revolution.

Human interdependence and subordination to society:

Socialist doctrine doesn’t safeguard the independent individual of liberal theory and subsumes individual interests under the ‘general interest’. As Parekh states people are ‘necessarily interdependent not only in the obvious material sense but also in the cultural and spiritual sense’. Man-in-Soceity derives from the definition of human beings as creatures formed by the environment. In society, our behaviour can only fully be explained and our interests properly consulted, with reference to the social ensemble. Many critics suggest that this view gives the ‘general interest’ dangerous priority over …

individuals who become subordinate. Socialists would conceptualise this as Rousseau does: in making the social contract the individual gives up most of her power over herself but gains a fraction of power over every citizen’. Utopian socialists followed him, arguing that, if each depended on all, debilitating personal dependence would be averted. dependence on the state is however feared - a likely outcome of socialist policies. The conceptualisation of an individual as a fraction of the whole in a logical consequence of other socialist tenets eg. popular sovereignty and humans as eminently sociable. 

How do individuals thrive?

The radical edge of socialism isn't from its views of what people are like, but what they have the capacity to become. Socialism has developed utopian visions of a better society; human beings can achieve genuine emancipation and fulfilment as members of a community. African and Asian socialists often stress that their traditional societies already prove the importance of social life and value of the community. In such cases, socialism has sought to preserve traditional social values. As Julieus Nyerere, president of Tanzania 1964-85, pointed out,…

 ‘We in Africa have no more real need to be converted to socialism, than we have on being taught democracy’, therefore describing his own views as ‘tribal socialism’. If humans are social animals, the natural relationship among them is one of cooperation rather than competition. Socialists believe that competition pits one individual against another, encouraging them to deny or ignore their social nature rather than embrace it. Competition fosters a limited range of social attributes.

Human Creativity and Sociability:

Human beings are creative and find pleasure and fulfilment in work. Marx was influenced by Hegel's thesis that man transforms himself, a process which makes the ‘slave’ superior in some ways to the ‘master’. Saint-Simon spoke of the urge to control nature and to be creative: ‘for man, being happy is to act, then to enjoy’. The pleasures of creation are equal if not more to those of …

consumption. Whereas Calvinist capitalist work ethic applauds the moral virtue of hard work, idealistic socialists emphasise the joy - this vision of ‘creative man’, Homo faber, has consequences for freedom as fulfilment.

Natural sociability and goodwill between people are assumed. Cooperation and collectivism rather than individualism and competition are uppermost. Fraternity and community are socialist beliefs in our sociability and solidarity. Crick argues that …

fraternity ‘must involve, firstly, common tasks and activities, and secondly an exultant recognition of diversity of character’. It is not based on sameness, but friendship of individuals. The idea of community emphasises the common interest of a group of people with shared identity and common purpose.

Idealisation of work as unalienated labour …

Contrasts with both the biblical stigmatisation of toil as Adams curse and the Calvinist identification of work with virtue. Human creativity makes it possible for the pleasure of work to exceed even those of consumption, as utopian Fourier illustrates: in his ideal community, people would pursue 8 different occupations during a long working day. His principle of ‘attractive labour’ dictated that everyone should work at what she enjoys most: the rose lover grows roses. For Marx, it was less the content than the form of work which mattered. Working for a capitalist could never be …

satisfying because of the workers' alienated, exploited state, whereas under social workers they should be fulfilling their social nature. In News from Nowhere 1891 William Morris made the same point when he introduced Boffin, an intelligent man who had chosen to be a dustman because he found the work socially worthwhile. In this utopia, dustmen had as high status as everyone else. Now, different economic circumstances have dictated that socialists should concern themselves with the ‘right to work’ above all else.

Human Nature is …

(i) Optimistic:

Rooted in Enlightenment thinking, socialism assumes human beings are capable of progress and should not resign themselves to hardship or fear the future. Figures like Beatrice Webb argued that a …

better world is both possible and likely. Early utopian socialists imagined ideal communities, and even Marx believed communism would create a rational, harmonious society where major problems disappeared and people lived wisely and happily.

Human Nature is …

(ii) Fraternal:

Socialists share liberals’ positive view of human nature but for different reasons. Liberals emphasise self-interest; socialists stress fellowship, generosity, and natural concern for others. They see humans as co-operative rather than …

competitive—more like siblings than rivals. Rosa Luxemburg claimed our instinct is to share, not win, and Anthony Giddens later argued that even the wealthy could be rationally persuaded to support higher taxation to aid the less fortunate.

Human Nature is …

(iii) Rational:

Socialists, like liberals, view humans as rational, but believe our rationality supports collective, co-operative decision-making. Webb and Crosland stressed humanity’s ability to plan methodically for progress. Webb criticised laissez-faire liberalism for …

hoping the future would improve rather than planning it, and advocated an educated, socially-minded state bureaucracy to guide improvement.

Human Nature is …

(iv) Communal:

Because humans are seen as fraternal, socialists also see them as naturally communal. People gravitate toward groups—unions, clubs, workplaces—rather than constant individual independence. Webb insisted we are “not lone wolves,” and Luxemburg saw solidarity as both morally fulfilling and historically transformative, capable of sparking revolutionary change. Marx likewise …

predicted that communism would consist of voluntary communities organised around need rather than individual ability, where people willingly put collective needs first. After capitalism’s end, he argued, individuals would recognise that true fulfilment comes from serving the community, not selfishness shaped by “false consciousness.”

Human Nature is …

(v) Malleable:

Finally, socialism views human nature as malleable rather than fixed. Marx and Engels argued that capitalism had distorted human nature, and later thinkers like Giddens suggested that social problems (e.g., crime) result from social conditions rather than innate wickedness. Because human nature is …

 changeable, socialists believe it can be improved—potentially perfected—through transformative social reform. This leads directly to the question of what corrupts human nature and how society must change to restore it.