Politics Essay: Liberalism

Why do modern liberals support social reform and welfare?

Modern liberal ideas were related to the further development of industrialisation. Social inequality became difficult to ignore as the working class were seen to be disadvantaged. As economic individualism came under attack, liberals rethought their attitude to the state. The minimal state was incapable of rectifying the injustices and inequalities of civil society. Therefore, modern liberals were prepared to advocate an interventionist state.

The modern liberal principle of positive freedom recognises that individual liberty can be threatened by social disadvantage and inequality. By protecting individuals from social evils, the state can expand freedom.

Modern liberals endorsed an enabling state exercising a wide range of social and economic responsibilities. The state could not force people to be good but provide conditions in which they could make more responsible moral decisions. While liberals have a preference for self-reliant individuals that take control of their own lives, they recognise that this can only occur if social conditions are conducive to it.

Social reform and welfare therefore help to expand individual freedom and enhance self-reliance by reducing social inequalities.

Modern liberals defend welfarism on the basis of equality of opportunity. The state has a social responsibility to reduce or remove social disadvantages to create equal or more equal life chances.

John Rawls developed a defence of redistribution and welfare based on the idea of ‘equality of fairness’. If people were unaware of their social position they would view an egalitarian society as fairer than an inegalitarian one. He proposed the ‘difference principle’ that social and economic inequalities should be arranged so as to benefit the least well-off, recognising the need for some measure of inequality to provide an incentive to work.

The modern liberal support for social reform and welfare boils down to the central thrust of modern liberalism: helping individuals to help themselves.