Individualism
Individualism is a political and social philosophy that emphasizes the moral worth of the individual. It prioritizes personal freedom, self-reliance, and individual rights over collective or state control. Individualism often promotes free-market capitalism, limited government intervention, and the protection of individual liberties and property rights. It is a foundational concept in liberal political thought and has influenced various political ideologies and movements.
3 Key excerpts on "Individualism"
eBook - ePubThe Roots of American Individualism
Political Myth in the Age of Jackson
- Alex Zakaras(Author)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Princeton University Press(Publisher)
...Both find succinct expression in the Declaration of Independence, with its assertion that governments are instituted to secure individual rights, and that such governments derive their “just powers from the consent of the governed.” We focus here on the first of these meanings: political individualists believe that government exists largely to protect individuals from harm and to enhance the range of meaningful choices available to them, so that they can pursue lives that reflect their own convictions and desires. Historians of American political thought have often used the term “Individualism” in this sense. Reflecting in broad brushstrokes on the tenor of American political ideas, for example, Clinton Rossiter wrote that “the core of our faith is Individualism. ‘The state was made for man, not man for the state’ is the magic formula with which Americans bid the evil spirits of authoritarianism be gone.” 8 For Rossiter, this faith was expressed in the conviction that the state existed, above all, to preserve individual freedom. Social Individualism As we explored in chapters 3 and 7, the idea of society as an organic whole composed of unequal but interdependent parts persisted well into the nineteenth century. Many Federalist elites, for example, believed in a fundamentally hierarchical social order in which individuals played their appointed roles. Social Individualism, by contrast, holds that social cohesion can and should arise through the voluntary cooperation of autonomous individuals. There are two separate ideas here. The first is that society is a collection of autonomous individuals rather than an organic whole or a hierarchy of complementary orders or castes. The second is that society should be bound together, as much as possible, by free and voluntary cooperation, not by coercion...
eBook - ePub- Harry C Triandis(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...With respect to large collectives, Individualism means that human rights can be observed; multiculturalism is possible in the society; there is democracy; if a person commits a crime, that person, not his whole ingroup, is punished; the culture favors progress and technological innovation; and it emphasizes creativity, freedom, mastery, and achievement. A high GNP/cap is strongly associated with Individualism (Hofstede, 1980). Whether that will be the case in the future requires further research. Some economists have argued that the best economic development occurs in collectivist settings, such as Hong Kong and Singapore. However, I suspect that other variables, such as small size and the ability to take advantage of inventions made in other countries, may be more important determinants of the phenomenal economic growth of those states. It is likely that the relationship of affluence and Individualism is circular, each fostering the other. Those who are affluent can do their own thing, including investing in projects that their ingroup finds too risky. Some of these projects succeed, and the entrepreneur becomes more affluent...
eBook - ePubJustice and Morality
Human Suffering, Natural Law and International Politics
- Amanda Russell Beattie(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Pledges of allegiance by way of personal support no longer feature in the technical details of international diplomacy as individuals are replaced and transferred by technocrats within the state itself. Consequently the moral obligations and duties which accompanied the obligations of sovereigns have eroded. In their place has sprung up a formal structure of law which is supported by an account of power relationships. This, it is hoped, can mediate the threat of conflict in and amongst states guided by their own national interest. International relations is, for Morgenthau, a continuous effort to maintain and increase state power and in the process reduce or check the power of other nations. The cultivation of power remains the primary national interest of states, and leaders who abdicate this responsibility are guilty of moral failure. Again like Niebuhr, Morgenthau distinguishes different accounts of morality and associates them with particular facets of human life. Instead of placing power and morality in opposition to one another he clearly articulates two different accounts of morality. The first notion reflects a morality derived from the realities of international politics. The second account of morality reflects the original assumptions of human nature that man is naturally social and desires to be moral. Morgenthau's notion of moral politics is at odds with less nuanced realist accounts of politics. Instead, he reflects on the different relationships in which the desire for morality is apparent. Within international politics there is little space for a moral framework which emphasizes individual virtue and perfection. This framework exists within the personal relationships of individuals within the community. The particular moral framework which bears on international politics is derived from the morality of national interest which provides a taxonomy for leaders to do the best they can in relation to long-term survival...
