Key concepts:

Liberalism Marxism
Capitalism Socialism
Communism Fascism
Anarchism Conservatism
 Liberalism
is the dominant ideology in
western democracies
• Stresses individual rights and freedom of choice
• Role of government is to promote personal
freedom and reduce inequities
 Twoof the most influential thinkers in the
creation of liberalism

 Both
believed that humans are equal and
independent

 According to Locke and J. S. Mill, humans

have inalienable rights:
• Life, liberty, equality and property
 People are:
• born free and equal
• rational and reasonable

 People
must give consent to the
government in order for it gain power

 Primary
role of government is to protect
freedom and security
 Accepted Locke’s ideas of liberalism but
believed in unrestricted self expression
and independence

 Humans should have the ability to pursue

their own interests in whatever way they
so choose, as long as it does not interfere
with the right of others to do the same
 Stressesa moral responsibility to respect
past traditions, cultures and habits
• Can be cultural, religious or personal

 Change must occur slowly

 Rejects violent or revolutionary changes
 Leaderin developing ideology of
conservatism

 Believed
in a social contract among all of
humanity – living, dead and yet to be
born
 Burke wrote about the French Revolution
• Rejected the idea of dramatic and radical
change in such a short period of time
• Idea justified by Reign of Terror
 Ideologybased primarily on the
principles of economic freedom

 Basic
ideas of capitalism were introduced
by Adam Smith
 Smith argued that individuals are motivated by
self-interest to improve their situation

 This results in an (unintentional) improvement in

the economic well-being of society

 Writing at a time of great change in Europe as

England began the industrial revolution

 Personal wealth was becoming easier to obtain

• More opportunities for people to look out for individual
interests
 Introducesthe concept of an “invisible
hand” that guides the economy

 Individuals
works to provide personal
economic security while at the same time
promoting the interests of society

Eg. Individuals innovate, create the best

products and services they can to compete
in a market. This benefits the consumer.
 Socialism is based on principles of
collectivism

 Inparticular socialism focuses on the rights

and interests of the working class

 Two main branches of socialism:

• Marxism (scientific socialism, communism)
• Democratic socialism (social democracy)
 Generally considered the father of socialism
 Marx divided society into two main classes:
• The Proletariat (the working class)
• The Bourgeoisie (the ruling class)

 Marx believe that these two classes were in

constant struggle
• Most societal problems could be attributed to this
struggle
• the proletariat is a revolutionary class who will eventually
overthrow the ruling class creating a society where there
is equality without class distinctions; production and
well-being is controlled by the state
 Private property should be abolished

 Onlyworkers should profit from their

labour, not the employers or owners of
companies

 Because every worker has a stake in the

enterprise they have incentive to work
harder
 Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto which
outlined many of his ideas

 Communism as we know it today differs

from what Marx’s original ideas

 Marxism is a form of communism based on

Marx’s ideas
• but upon learned what the so-called Marxists were
practicing, Marx declared that he was NOT a Marxist.
 Communism owes as much to Karl Marx
as it does to Vladimir Lenin

 Likesocialism, communism is concerned

with collective interests and the struggle
between the proletariat and the
bourgeiosie
 Leninexpanded on the ideas of Marx to
include a greater role of the government
 InLenin’s model, once the proletariat
became the government, it would maintain
total control over society
 Privateproperty would be abolished and
each worker would work according to
his/her abilities and receive according to
his/her needs.
 Leninled a communist revolution in
Russia that effectively ended the rule of
the Russian monarchy
 The fascist ideology can be credited to Benito
Mussolini and Adolf Hitler
 Fascism emphasized extreme nationalism,
service to the state, authoritarian leadership,
violence, militarism and a hatred of communism
 On the other hand it is a collectivist ideology like
communism
 Nazi is an acronym for the National Socialist
German Worker’s Party
 Founder of fascism

 First published his philosophy of fascism in

1932

 Believedthat the state should be the

primary focus of individuals
• In some ways it shares collectivist values with
socialism
• Meaning to an individuals life could be found in
devotion and service to the state
 Hitler believed strongly that the elite should rule
• The strongest, most intelligent people should rule
because the rest of society was incompetent to realize or
understand their needs and wants

 Just as he put more value on certain individuals,

he placed more value on certain races
• Social Darwinism

 He applied this policy not just to political

leadership, but to his views of mankind
• He used these ideas to defend the racist policies of the
Nazi party
 Anarchism is an ideology that stresses
the right of individuals to organize their
lives free from government domination

 Can
range from complete freedom, to
complete collectivism
 Kropotkin believed that anarchism had to rely on
economic and political freedom for individuals

 Individual freedom will result in the pursuit of

common goals such as mutual agreements and
contracts between individuals

 In the absence of government regulations and

laws, people will develop their own regulations
that may be better suited for their specific
situations