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Full Idea
Liberals take people as they are, and relates their interests to what they actually want or prefer.
Gist of Idea
Liberals take people as they are, and take their preferences to be their interests
Source
Steven Lukes (Power: a Radical View (2nd ed) [2005], 1.6)
Book Ref
Lukes,Steven: 'Power: a radical view' [Macmillan 2005], p.37
A Reaction
He contrasts this with 'reformists' and 'radicals'. I don't see why liberals should be so uncritical of people's desires. Liberals aren't going to implement harmful policies, simply because people want them. He treats liberals as one-dimensional.
Related Idea
Idea 22855 One-dimensionsal power is behaviour in observable conflicts of interests [Lukes]
| 22850 | Hidden powers are the most effective [Lukes] |
| 22852 | The pluralist view says that power is restrained by group rivalry [Lukes] |
| 22854 | Power is a capacity, which may never need to be exercised [Lukes] |
| 22851 | In the 1950s they said ideology is finished, and expertise takes over [Lukes] |
| 22853 | Anyone who thinks capitalism can improve their lives is endorsing capitalism [Lukes] |
| 22855 | One-dimensionsal power is behaviour in observable conflicts of interests [Lukes] |
| 22856 | Political organisation brings some conflicts to the fore, and suppresses others [Lukes] |
| 22860 | The evidence for the exertion of power need not involve a grievance of the powerless [Lukes] |
| 22857 | The two-dimensional view of power recognises the importance of controlling the agenda [Lukes] |
| 22859 | Power can be exercised to determine a person's desires [Lukes] |
| 22858 | There is collective action, where a trend is manifest, but is not attributable to individuals [Lukes] |
| 22862 | Liberals take people as they are, and take their preferences to be their interests [Lukes] |
| 22861 | Power is affecting a person in a way contrary to their interests [Lukes] |
| 22863 | Power is the capacity of a social class to realise its interests [Lukes] |
| 21133 | Supreme power is getting people to have thoughts and desires chosen by you [Lukes] |