more on this theme
|
more from this text
Single Idea 23134
[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 4. Free market
]
Full Idea
'Free societies', as a matter of practical fact, always mean free-market societies - and free markets will never sponsor more than predatory capitalism. Inequalities always emerge.
Gist of Idea
A 'free' society implies a free market, which always produces predatory capitalism and inequalities
Source
Adam Gopnik (A Thousand Small Sanities [2019], 3)
Book Ref
Gopnik,Adam: 'A Thousand Small Sanities' [riverrun 2019], p.149
A Reaction
This is part of his account of left-wing objections to liberalism. The crux of the liberal view is a conviction that the worst of capitalism can be restrained. This began to look doubtful once huge multinational companies emerged. What to do?
The
19 ideas
from Adam Gopnik
23128
|
The opposite of liberalism is dogmatism
[Gopnik]
|
23125
|
Most good social changes are incremental, rather than revolutionary
[Gopnik]
|
23126
|
Conservatives often want peace, prosperity and tolerance, but not social fairness
[Gopnik]
|
23124
|
Liberal community is not blood ties or tradition, but shared choices, and sympathy for the losers
[Gopnik]
|
23127
|
Liberal community includes flight from the family, into energetic reforming groups
[Gopnik]
|
23132
|
Conservatives believe obedience and rank are essential to social order
[Gopnik]
|
23129
|
Right-wingers attack liberal faith in reason, left-wingers attack its faith in reform
[Gopnik]
|
23133
|
Cosmopolitan liberals lack national loyalty, and welcome excessive immigration
[Gopnik]
|
23130
|
Popular imperialism gives the poor the belief that their acts have world historical meaning
[Gopnik]
|
23131
|
Patriots love their place, but nationalists have a paranoid ethnic hostility
[Gopnik]
|
23136
|
Liberal free speech is actually paid speech
[Gopnik]
|
23134
|
A 'free' society implies a free market, which always produces predatory capitalism and inequalities
[Gopnik]
|
23139
|
Liberalism's attempt to be neutral and colour-blind erases cultural identities
[Gopnik]
|
23135
|
Classic Marxists see liberalism as the ideology of the bourgeoisie
[Gopnik]
|
23140
|
Environmental disasters result not from capitalism, but from a general drive for growth
[Gopnik]
|
23138
|
Modern left-wingers criticise liberalism's control of culture
[Gopnik]
|
23142
|
People are fallible, so liberalism tries to distribute power
[Gopnik]
|
23143
|
Liberals have tried very hard to build a conscience into their institutions
[Gopnik]
|
23141
|
Left-wingers are inconsistent in their essentialist descriptions of social groups
[Gopnik]
|