Social Studies: Issues 1 and 2A

To what extent should ideology be the foundation of identity?

John Locke

• people are inherently good

  • blank slate, formed by experience

• everyone is born with natural rights and freedoms

• small government influence, just there to protect the people

• a LEGITIMATE government is a government that acts in the people’s best interest

• LIBERTY

(classical liberalism)

Thomas Hobbes

• people are inherently evil

  • (grew up among the civil war, brutality and violence)

• people should live in a safe, structured society—guided by a string LEADER or government

  • proponent of absolute monarchy, but one that can be overthrown if power is abused

• legitimate government controls vulnerable citizens

  • wellbeing of the individual is equal to the wellbeing of the group

• Levithan

(absolutism)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• people are born good, society corrupts

  • “noble savages”

• small government control (picked by the people)

• direct democracy

  • no representatives

• equality (titles of rank/nobility should be abolished)

• private property = greed and misery

• Social contract

• equality for the masses is more important than individual freedoms

John Stuart Mill

• people are mostly good and trustworthy

  • “HARM PRINCIPLE”

  • freedom to do whatever until it hurts others

  • (freedom is only limited when it is done to protect rights and freedoms of others)

• Utilitarianism

• free will, small government power

• freedom = risk

  • liberty and risk is required for self-actualization

  • risk leads to growth

Baron de Montesquieu

• Separation of Power

  • legislative—executive—judicial

  • SEPERATE court of law

    • government can be fairly challenged

    • makes checks and balances

  • people are equal

DECENTRALIZE

Adam Smith

• economic self-determination

• economic prosperity is good

• Lasseiz Faire (hands off) economy

  • controlled by “invisible hand” (supply, demand)

  • small government influence

    • represent the free will of the people

CAPITALISM

Karl Marx

• communist party

• no social classes

• no private property

• public ownership

• equality

• focus on the struggles of the working class

anarchism

a political theory advocating for the elimination of government

• people can live in a state of total freedom

authoritarianism

political doctrine advocating for the principle of absolute rule

• leader is typically a dictator

capitalism

an economic system characterized by

• competition

• personal incentive

• supply and demand

• little to no government involvement

  • private property

democracy

type of government the values equality and basic rights/freedoms

fascism

an authoritarian form of government, an extreme version of conservatism.

• willing to use violence to get what they want

• collectivist (strangely)

• values traditions, powered by a wish to re-establish “status-quo”

• typically racist, with dominant ethnic groups

• extreme nationalism

  • reactionaries

communism

combo of political and economic ideas related to the establishment of an egalitarian classless and stateless society

• publicly owned property

  • equal distribution

nationalism

collective, shared sense of belonging to people who identify themselves as part of a nation

modern liberalism

balancing freedom with collective security

• equity, equality, safety

classical liberalism

limited government influence, focus of individual rights and freedoms

ideology

a set of principles or ideas that explain our world and our place in it

class system

a societal hierarchy typically tied to one’s birthright, usually tied to one’s socioeconomic standing. before the industrial revolution, this wealth was indicated by one’s birthright land ownership.

enlightenment

the beginning foundations of classical liberal beliefs, where people started to question the authority of absolute monarchical rule, rooted in humanist beliefs of the 14th century

humanists

individuals who believe in the importance of arts and literature alongside faith, believing strongly in the power of reason and the individual importance of every person.

free market

an economy that operates with very little government intervention

industrialization

the process of turning a more agrarian society/economy into an urban one through the transition from farming towards factory work.

Laissez-faire capitalism

An economic system with free-market competition and very minimal (or no) government intervention.

Traditional Economy

An agrarian based economy much less based on wealth and monetary value of goods, and rather, the traditional and societal needs of goods. This oftentimes means that individuals will trade goods instead of spend things like money.

Nouveau Riche

The “newly wealthy”—created by the industrial revolution’s facet of entrepreneurship, one could be born poor and work their ways into becoming wealthy.

Urbanization

The process of individuals moving from rural agricultural areas to central crowded cities.

Classical conservatism

The ideology that believes in a certain extent of social hierarchy. Coined by Edmund Burke on his views of the French Revolution, it is the belief that only certain more intellectual individuals should be able to decide things like laws and policies. This ideology is rooted in the foundation that not every individual is equal.

Command economy

An economy that is highly centralized, typically based on the values of collectivism. In the fullest extent, it means that everything is publicly owned. Production, distribution, and consumption are dictated by the government.

Feminism

The belief that men and women are to be treated equally.

Labour Standards

Laws enacted to ensure workers are given fair working conditions.

Labour unions

An official means to collectively bargain—to argue as one larger being for demands, using size to, at the worst extent, strike.

Progressivism

The reform movement starting during the Industrial Revolution and continuing today, advocating for social reform to improve the human condition.

Socialism

An economic and political ideology that believes that calls for most forms of property (including: means of production, resources, services) to be owned publicly—by the government.

Welfare capitalism

A private form of welfare, often provided by a company for their workers. An example would be a private accounting company giving their workers health benefits even without the intervention of the government.

Robber Baron

Bad rich man who doesn’t give back to society

Captains of Industry

Good rich man who gives back to society

The “Square Deal”

Theodoore Roosevelt’s “3 C’s” policy

• controlling corporations

• consumer welfare

• nature conservation

Aimed at making preventing companies from abusing control over the marketplace.

consumerism

socioeconomic theory that deposits consumer spending as a measure of individual prosperity. the state of society during the and following the industrial revolution in most western societies.

inflation

an economic phenomenon where the individual price of goods rises

income disparity

the wealth gap between the lower and upper classes

monopoly

when a company has complete control over an industry, allowing it to set its own prices.

trusts

similar to a monopoly, where companies within an industry agree to set certain prices on goods in order to make the most profit without competing with each other. These companies end up having complete control over the prices as a result.

social programs

publicly funded services, like healthcare, employment insurance.

trickle-down economics

an economic theory that focuses on lower government intervention, lowering taxes and providing tax cuts to the wealthy in order to increase economic growth (as they will be more willing to invest) and eventually would benefit the working class.

Otherwise known as supply-side economics.

The “New Deal”

Influenced by Keynesian economics, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (1933-39) policy consisted of two major parts

Part 1: Demand Side Economics

• Government should control inflation

  • Central Banks

  • Increase taxes and decrease government spending (take money out of circulation to curb spending)

• Control recession

  • decrease interest rates (increase investment)

  • decrease taxes

  • increase government spending (stim. demand)

Part 2: The Social Safety Net

• Alphabet Agencies

  • “the raw deal”—African americans

RELIEF for the unemployed

REFORM the economy

RECOVERY from the Great Depression

welfare state

modern liberal policy, the government takes the responsibility to provide citizens with social services in order to ensure equality of opportunity.