Social Liberalism

Social Liberalism (SocLib) also called Left-Liberalism (LeftLib), Modern Liberalism (ModLib), Welfare Liberalism (WelLib) and New Liberalism (NewLib) is an economically center, civically liberal, and culturally progressive political ideology which combines elements of liberal democracy and  economic interventionism in the name of "ensuring economic justice as well as civil liberty". Social Liberals view the common good as harmonious with individual freedom. Much of Social Liberalism's success is due to the fact that it's polices have gained broad support across the political spectrum because of it's reform-minded polices that address societal problems without overhauling the  capitalist economic system. As economic circumstances became more dire in places, many were more willing to accept social liberalism since it seemed to be less radical and evil than other forms of left-wing government. Becasue of this, Social liberalism has been characterized by cooperation between businesses, government and labor unions. Many governments throughout the modern world have successfully adopted social liberal policies, and is now the dominant form of liberalism in North America, where it's often referred to as simply 'liberalism'.

History
Heavily inspired by his father Radicalism,  SocLib began to take his first steps in the late 19th century as  welfare states around the world started to grow. But it didn't become a more fully developed ideology until the post-war period when numerous Western democracies throughout the world began to implement social liberal policies in the aftermath of World War II.

[[File:Cball-UK.png]] United Kingdom
Social Liberalism started in the United Kingdom at the end of the 19th century as a trend within the Liberal Party that moved away from  laissez-faire economics, accepting certain market regulations, and moved more towards a social welfare system and from the more traditional  classical liberal deontological view of morality to a more utilitarian view of morality based on the philosophy of Jeremy Bentham.

The most influential figure behind the move towards this kind of liberalism is the English philosopher John Stuart Mill, who believed in certainly free markets along with welfare systems to assure equal opportunities.

The New Liberals
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, a group called the New Liberals began to argue against the laissez-faire economic system of classical liberalism and argued in favor of  state interventionism in the economy as a way to ensure individual liberty would be secured under favorable social and economic circumstances.

The Liberal Party, one of the two major political parties in the UK during the 19th and early 20th century, established the foundations of the welfare state in the United Kingdom before World War I. These liberal welfare reforms included progressive taxation, pensions for poor elderly people, and the National Insurance Act of 1911 which established health, sickness and unemployment insurance. At this time, big bussiness owners, who regularly opposed these reforms, started to leave the  Liberal Party to join the  Conservative Party. The welfare state in the United Kingdom became more robust after World War II, mainly due to the efforts of the Labour Party, and was heavily inspired by the economics of  John Maynard Keynes and the welfare system of  William Beveridge.

In modern day United Kingdom, Social Liberalism is most prominently represented by the Liberal Democrats and has had a strong influence on the  Labour Party.

[[File:Cball-Germany.png]] Germany
In the 1860s, some left-liberal politicians in  Germany started to establish trade unions with the goal of improving worker conditions through cooperation between employees and employers. By the 1870s, some liberal economists were promoting social reform that rejected classical economics and supported an alternative to classical liberalism and  Socialist Revolution.

In the 19th century, the German left-liberal movement began to fragment into new parties including the  German Progress Party. The main objectives of these parties were free speech, freedom of assembly, representative government, and protection of private property but they were opposed to the creation of a welfare state which they called  state socialism.

The Protestant pastor Friedrich Naumann founded the National-Social Association Party in 1896 which proposed a mix of nationalism,  christian socialism, and social liberalism. He attempted to use this party to draw workers away from Marxism but it only lasted for roughly seven years and was unable to win any seats.

In the Weimar Republic, the German Democratic Party was founded in 1918. It had both a social-liberal and classical liberal wing. It heavily favored republicanism over  monarchism. It's ideas consisted of a socially balanced economy with solidarity, duty and rights among all workers, but it struggled due to the economic sanctions of the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1932, the economist Alexander Rüstow called his version of social liberalism  Neoliberalism, although that term now carries a meaning different from the one proposed by Rüstow. His form of liberalism provided an alternative to socialism and to the  classical liberal economics developed in the German Empire. In 1938, Alexander Rüstow attended the Colloque Walter Lippmann conference. There, Rüstow advocated a strong state to enforce free markets and state intervention to correct market failures.

Following World War II, Rüstow's neoliberalism, now usually called ordoliberalism or the   social market economy, was adopted by the West German government under  Ludwig Erhard, who was the Minister of Economics and later became Chancellor. Price controls were lifted and free markets were introduced. While these policies are credited with Germany's post-war economic recovery, the welfare state—which had been established under Bismarck—became increasingly costly.

After 1945, the Free Democrats included most of the social liberals while others joined the  Christian Democratic Union of Germany. Until the 1960s, post-war ordoliberalism was the model for Germany. It had theoretical influence of social liberalism based on duty and rights. As the Free Democrats discarded social liberal ideas in favor of more  conservative and  economical liberal approach in 1982, some members left the party and formed the social liberal  Liberal Democrats.

[[File:Cball-US.png]] United States
American political discourse resisted this social turn in European liberalism. In the United States, the term social liberalism was used to differentiate it from classical liberalism or  laissez-faire, which dominated political and economic thought for a number of years until the term branched off from it around the Great Depression and the  New Deal.

In the 1870s and the 1880s, the American economists Richard Ely, John Bates Clark and Henry Carter Adams—influenced both by socialism and the Evangelical Protestant movement—castigated the conditions caused by industrial factories and expressed sympathy towards labor unions. However, none developed a systematic political philosophy and they later abandoned their flirtations with socialist thinking. In 1883, Lester Frank Ward published the two-volume Dynamic Sociology and formalized the basic tenets of social liberalism while at the same time attacking the laissez-faire policies advocated by  Herbert Spencer and  William Graham Sumner. The historian Henry Steele Commager ranked Ward alongside William James, John Dewey and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and called him the father of the modern  welfare state. Writing from 1884 until the 1930s, John Dewey—an educator influenced by Hobhouse, Green and Ward—advocated  socialist methods to achieve  liberal goals. Some social liberal ideas were later incorporated into the New Deal, which developed as a response to the Great Depression when  Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office.

While the economic policies of the New Deal appeared  Keynesian, there was no revision of  liberal theory in favor of greater state initiative. Even though the United States lacked an effective socialist movement,  New Deal policies often appeared radical and were attacked by the  right. The separate development of modern liberalism in the United States is often attributed to  American exceptionalism, which kept mainstream American ideology within a narrow range.

John Rawls' principal work A Theory of Justice (1971) can be considered a flagship exposition of social liberal thinking, advocating the combination of individual freedom and a  fairer distribution of resources. According to Rawls, every individual should be allowed to choose and pursue his or her own conception of what is desirable in life, while a socially just distribution of goods must be maintained. Rawls argued that differences in material wealth are tolerable if general economic growth and wealth also benefit the poorest. A Theory of Justice countered utilitarian thinking in the tradition of Jeremy Bentham, instead following the  Kantian concept of a social contract, picturing society as a mutual agreement between rational citizens, producing rights and duties as well as establishing and defining roles and tasks of the state. Rawls put the equal liberty principle in the first place, providing every person with equal access to the same set of fundamental liberties, followed by the fair equality of opportunity and difference principle, thus allowing social and economic inequalities under the precondition that privileged positions are accessible to everyone, that everyone has equal opportunities and that even the least advantaged members of society benefit from this framework. This was later restated in the equation of Justice as Fairness. Rawls proposed these principles not just to adherents of liberalism, but as a basis for all  democratic politics, regardless of ideology. The work advanced social liberal ideas immensely within the 1970s political and philosophic academia. Rawls may therefore be seen as a "patron saint" of social liberalism.

In recent US history, both former democratic President Barrack Obama and current democratic President  Joe Biden have incorporated social liberal principles and policies throughout their presidencies.

[[File:Consequentialism.png]] Consequentalism
Consequentialism, as its name suggests, is simply the view that normative properties depend only on consequences. This historically important and still popular theory embodies the basic intuition that what is best or right is whatever makes the world best in the future, because we cannot change the past, so worrying about the past is no more useful than crying over spilled milk. This general approach can be applied at different levels to different normative properties of different kinds of things, but the most prominent example is probably consequentialism about the moral rightness of acts, which holds that whether an act is morally right depends only on the consequences of that act or of something related to that act, such as the motive behind the act or a general rule requiring acts of the same kind.

[[File:Utility.png]] Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is a version of consequentialism, which states that the consequences of any action are the only standard of right and wrong. Unlike other forms of consequentialism, such as egoism and altruism, utilitarianism considers the interests of all humans equally. Proponents of utilitarianism have disagreed on a number of points, such as whether actions should be chosen based on their likely results (act utilitarianism), or whether agents should conform to rules that maximize utility (rule utilitarianism). There is also disagreement as to whether total (total utilitarianism), average (average utilitarianism) or minimum utility should be maximized.

[[File:Mill.png]] Rule Utilitarianism
Rule utilitarianism is a form of utilitarianism, Created by John Stuart Mill, that says an action is right as it conforms to a rule that leads to the greatest good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance". Philosophers Richard Brandt and Brad Hooker are major proponents of such an approach.

For rule utilitarians, the correctness of a rule is determined by the amount of good it brings about when followed. In contrast, act utilitarians judge an act in terms of the consequences of that act alone (such as stopping at a red light), rather than judging whether it faithfully adhered to the rule of which it was an instance (such as, "always stop at red lights"). Rule utilitarians argue that following rules that tend to lead to the greatest good will have better consequences overall than allowing exceptions to be made in individual instances, even if better consequences can be demonstrated in those instances.

Economics
SocLib believes in modestly regulated capitalism with a large social safety net in a similar vein to Social Democracy. In the Vein of Keynesianism, Social Liberals generally argue that aggregate demand is volatile and unstable and that, consequently, a market economy often experiences inefficient macroeconomic outcomes – a recession, when demand is low, and inflation, when demand is high. Further, they argue that these economic fluctuations can be mitigated by economic policy responses coordinated between government and central bank. In particular, fiscal policy actions (taken by the government) and monetary policy actions (taken by the central bank), can help stabilize economic output, inflation, and unemployment over the business cycle. Social liberals advocate a market economy – predominantly private sector, but with an active role for government intervention during recessions and depressions. These ideas were largley developed during and after the Great Depression.

[[File: Progress.png]] [[File:Prog-u.png]] Progressivism [[File:Prgess.png]]
Social Liberalism is in support of social reform based on the idea of progress in which advancements in science, technology, economic development and social organization are vital to the improvement of the human condition. Progressivism became highly significant during the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, out of the belief that Europe was demonstrating that societies could progress in civility from uncivilized conditions to civilization through strengthening the basis of empirical knowledge as the foundation of society. Figures of the Enlightenment believed that progress had universal application to all societies and that these ideas would spread across the world from Europe.

Personality
Social Liberalism acts like a stereotypical western urban/suburban middle-class millennial. He's very modern and loves to read analytic philosophers such as Bertrand Russell,  Ludwig Wittgenstein,  Karl Popper, and  John Stuart Mill. He's also a massive DGGer.

How to Draw
Soclib flag(2).png The Social Liberal design is the Social Democratic Rose in the Liberal colours of Blue and Gold.
 * 1) Draw a ball,
 * 2) Fill it with the same shade of blue as Liberalism (#006AA7),
 * 3) Draw a rose in gold (#FFD700),
 * 4) Draw the eyes, and you're done!

Friends

 * [[File:Radlib.png]] Radicalism - My father, and greatest influence.
 * [[File:Clib.png]] Classical Liberalism - My grandfather and second greatest influence.
 * [[File:Socdem.png]] Social Democracy - A slightly more regulationist version of myself. We often govern together.
 * [[File:Lib.png]] Liberalism - Liberal Gang! Thanks for creating such a great system!
 * [[File: Georgist.png]] Georgism - We have so much in common.
 * [[File:Keynes.png]] Keynesianism - He have some very good ideas but I don't like his opinion on military matters.
 * [[File:NuKeynesPix.png]] Neo-Keynesianism - Not very different from his father, although his spending habits are weird.
 * [[File:Soccap.png]] Social Capitalism & [[File:Socliber.png]] Social Libertarianism - Believes in having a moderate welfare state, but wants freer markets.
 * [[File:Orlib.png]] Ordo-Liberalism - We share the principle of moderately regulated markets with a welfare state.
 * [[File:Nordmodel.png]] Nordic Model - Same as Ordo-liberalism.
 * [[File:NatProg.png]] Bull Moose Progressivism - My cool older cousin. Hope you don't mind if I borrowed some of your notes for the New Deal cuz.
 * [[File:Progress.png]] Progressivism - Helping out the poor, protecting civil liberties? What's not to like?
 * [[File:Regulationism.png]] Regulationism - Taught me that sometimes markets need rules and regulations.
 * [[File:Neotech.png]] Technoliberalism - Fellow centrist liberal. You have some interesting takes, not gonna lie.

Frenemies

 * [[File:Libertarian.png]] Libertarianism - Yeah, [[File: Cap.png]] Capitalism’s a great system, but it needs [[File:Regulationism.png]] regulation, and having too small government means that citizens rights could be threatened. Also stop calling me a commie, I’m not [[File:Liberalsoc.png]] Liberal Socialism!
 * [[File:3way.png]] Third Way [[File:Third Way - alt.png]] - You are okay, but sometimes I feel like you're getting a bit too close to [[File:Neoliberal-icon.png]] him and further from [[File:Welf.png]] us.
 * [[File:Lpop.png]] Left-Wing Populism - Sometimes helpful for me, but he's still too radical.
 * [[File:Socauth.png]] Social Authoritarianism - Your economic ideas are ok, but you scare me.
 * [[File:Liberalsoc.png]] Liberal Socialism - You're kinda like me, but take things a bit too far.
 * [[File:Socgeo.png]] Social Georgism - LVT is a fairly radical idea, the voters may not be down with it.
 * [[File:Neoliberal-icon.png]] Neoliberalism - I like some of your ideas, but shouldn't there be more welfare programs?
 * [[File:Nalib.png]] National Liberalism - Heh, if it isn't this Mr. "I'm too cool for [[File:Altr.png]] Alt-Right" himself. Although, I'll admit that working with you isn't always so bad.
 * [[File:3princ.png]] Tridemism [[File:3princ-col.png]] - That health care system is nice, but why is it so hard for you to face what you did? Also stop calling me Green Taliban!!!
 * [[File:Long.png]] Longism - If I borrow some of your "Sharing the Wealth" ideas, will you stop bugging me for not going far enough? And stop working with the mob!

Enemies

 * [[File:ML.png]] Marxism–Leninism - I'M A LEFTIST, OK?! Anyways, you are somewhat racist and authoritarian you commie.
 * [[File:Nazi.png]] National Socialism - Didn't I kicked your genocidal ass out of Europe?
 * [[File: Nazbol.png]] National Bolshevism - Combines the worse of the 2 above.
 * [[File:Showa.png]] Showa Statism - That's what you get for sneak attacking me!
 * [[File:Necon.png]] Neoconservatism - My primary opponent in American elections, we need to bring home the troops unless I was the one who sent them there in the first place !
 * [[File:Statlib.png]] State Liberalism - You are a fucking asshole who gives both [[File:Prog.png]] Progressivism and [[File:Lib.png]] Liberalism a bad name! Also, you claimed to be a liberal, yet you're very authoritarian! HYPOCRISY AT ITS FINEST! I HATE YOU!
 * [[File:Marxfem.png]] Marxist Feminism - I was the original feminist. You're an embarrassment to our movement.

Further Information
For overlapping political theory, see:

Literature

 * On Liberty, Principles of Political Economy and On Socialism by John Stuart Mill
 * The Liberal Revolution and Liberal consciousness and working class by Piero Gobetti
 * A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
 * Liberalism is the best Cure for Poverty by Dirk Verhofstadt
 * The New Liberalism: Reconciling Liberty and Community by Avital Simhoni and Davis Weinstein
 * Towards a Socio-Liberal Theory of World Development by Arno Tausch and Fred Prager
 * Two Concepts of Liberty by Isaiah Berlin
 * Rights From Wrongs: A Secular Theory of the Origins of Rights by Alan Dershowitz
 * The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman

Wikipedia

 * Social Liberalism
 * Liberal corporatism
 * New Deal

People

 * [[File:Cball-UK.png]]John Stuart Mill
 * [[File:Cball-UK.png]] John Maynard Keynes [[File:Keynes.png]]
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] Franklin D. Roosevelt [[File:FDRismF.png]]
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] Harry S. Truman
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] John F. Kennedy
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] Robert Kennedy
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] Lyndon B. Johnson
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] Jimmy Carter
 * [[File:Cball-Austria.png]] [[File:Cball-UK.png]] Karl Popper
 * [[File:Cball-UK.png]] Anthony Giddens [[File:3way.png]]
 * [[File:Cball-Canada.png]] Pierre Trudeau
 * [[File:Cball-Canada.png]] Justin Trudeau
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] John Rawls
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] Al Gore [[File:Glib.png]]
 * [[File:Cball-China.png]] Wen Jiabao
 * [[File:Cball-South Korea.png]] Moon Jae-in [[File:DemocraticPartyKorea.png]]
 * [[File:Cball-Taiwan.png]] Tsai Ing-wen [[File:DPP-Taiwan.png]]
 * [[File:Cball-Sweden.png]] Jan Björklund
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] Elizabeth Warren
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] Andrew Yang
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] Ro Khanna
 * [[File:Cball-Belarus.png]] Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
 * [[File:Cball-Estonia.png]] Kaja Kallas
 * [[File:Cball-Chile.png]] Vlado Mirosevic
 * [[File:Cball-US.png]] Brian Tyler Cohen

Videos

 * Social Democracy vs Social Liberalism Explained by Liberaven
 * Classical vs. Social Liberalism by Nick Carroll
 * IdeoLogs: Interview With a Liberal by IdeoLogs

Communities

 * r/centerleftpolitics
 * r/socialliberalism

Gallery
Socjalliberalizm