This document contains 4 comprehensive essay plans on the state, human nature, society and the economy. Each plan has at least 2-3 key thinkers and a couple of secondary thinkers as well. They have all been approved by the head of Politics at my school and each one is extremely detailed with all th...
Shaped by events and Whether capitalism’s social conditioning is good or bad and to what extent it
experience should be repaired, if at all
Nurture over nature- this is Revolutionary socialists (fundamentalists)
what has made us - Marx and Engels (The communist manifesto 1848)- The individual is
rationale and sociable suffering from the ‘false consciousness’ of bourgeoisiement and is
being contaminated by capitalism
Capitalism → huge factor - Needs to be cured through the authoritarian rule of the proletariat
that has socially - Luxemburg (social reform or revolution 1899)- agreed except that
conditioned us the cure is not proletariat dictatorship- after revolution there should be
democracy- ‘without general elections, without a free struggle of
opinion, life dies in every institution’
Democratic socialists (fundamentalists)
- Webb- only way to eliminate the influence of capitalism is through
gradual change, revolution will enhance the damage created by
capitalism → too violent and sudden
Revisionist socialists
- The social conditioning of capitalism is not a bad thing- seek to
preserve not remove
- Giddens- Third Way (The Third Way: The Renewal of Social
Democracy 1998)- human nature can thrive under capitalism- human
nature is more socially conditioned by changing socio-economic
conditions and classes than capitalism which seeks to preserve core
socialist beliefs
- The influence of capitalism on human nature has positive potential
(third way and social democrats)
Natural condition- cooperation
They agree They disagree
Naturally social creatures- Whether this cooperative state can flourish under capitalism, whether this
would prefer to work selfishness is good or bad
together
Revolutionary socialists
Cooperative state of nature - Marx and Engels- this natural state of cooperation is being
allows us to make suppressed and can only be liberated through revolution
connections based on key - Capitalism is exploitative and competitive- ruining our ability to harness
socialist values: communal support and teamwork and making us selfish (not good)
understanding, mutual
support, respect Democratic socialists
- Agree but their methods involve evolution over revolution
Humans can harness the - Webb- humanity needs to be gently guided back to its original state of
capabilities of the entire cooperation, capitalism has caused enough damage to the psyche and
, community- adds to revolution would compound this
personal growth - Straying from our cooperative nature has made the average voter
selfish- against worker control and for paternalism with a socialist
Under capitalism- our governing class- so we can be democratically guided back to altruism
nature has become more
selfish Third Way
- Giddens- does not see capitalism as oppressive but that it
appreciates the core socialist belief in cooperation whilst balancing it
with the goal of individual prosperity- reduce dependency culture and
encourage human flourishing
- Some selfishness is natural and good for prosperity
Malleable
They agree They disagree
Human nature is not What would lead to these improvements
permanent and has
potential to improve, Revolutionary socialists
progress or develop - Marx- only way to improve our nature- remove the obstacle of the
oppressive bourgeoisie
Such changes are natural - This will free values like altruism, fraternity and collectivism and allow
and positive them to flourish
- Luxemburg- disagrees with Marx over the extent of damage to our
nature- fraternity and altruism can develop within working class
communities even under capitalism because of the community sense
Social democrats
- Crosland (The Future of Socialism 1956)- similar to luxemburg-
capitalism is not as influential to HN as Marx believes; ‘Marx has little
or nothing to offer the contemporary socialist’ - there is a powerful
sense of fairness that transcends socioeconomic statuses → capitalism
is not a huge factor prohibiting the flourishing of HN
Third Way
- Humans do have an overriding pro-fairness instinct, and some
elements of capitalism would improve our nature
- Giddens- faith in the sharpened sense of individual aspiration
(encouraged by competition) → adds to the desire to better yourself
THE STATE
The need of a state (for now)
They agree They disagree
There needs to be a state What kind of state is needed
in order to promote core
socialist values eg. Revolutionary socialists
collectivism, equality, - Marx and Engels- current capitalist state → destroyed and replaced
fraternity with temporary dictatorship of the proletariat which would wither away
to produce stateless communism
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