Social liberalism
Social liberalism combines individual rights and a market economy with government action to reduce poverty and social inequality.
Liberalism: A political tradition centered on individual liberty, equal rights, and limits on arbitrary power. Social liberalism is a branch of this broader political tradition.
Classical liberalism: A liberal tradition emphasizing individual liberty, private property, free markets, and limited government. Social liberalism retained liberal rights while rejecting the idea that limited government always secured real freedom.
Progressive taxation: A tax system in which higher incomes or wealth face higher tax rates. It can finance public services and redistribute resources while preserving private enterprise.
Libertarianism: A political philosophy that gives priority to individual liberty and sharply limits coercive government power. It generally rejects the extensive public intervention social liberals accept to reduce inequality.
Individual rights: Entitlements and protections held by individuals against coercion or unequal treatment. Protecting personal freedoms remains central even when government acts to address inequality.
Industrial Revolution: The period of rapid mechanization, urbanization, and economic transformation beginning in Britain in the eighteenth century. Industrial poverty and insecurity pressed liberals to reconsider laissez-faire policies.
Social insurance: Public programs that pool risks and provide benefits for events such as unemployment, illness, or old age. It reduces insecurity without requiring the state to replace market exchange.
Social democracy: A political tradition that pursues equality and social protection through democratic government, usually retaining a regulated market economy. It overlaps with social liberalism but often places greater emphasis on equality and organized labor.
Social justice: The pursuit of fair treatment, opportunities, and distribution of resources within society. It supplies a moral case for correcting disadvantages that formal rights alone may leave intact.
T. H. Green: A British philosopher whose idealist account of freedom helped shape the New Liberal movement. Green argued that public action could enable people to exercise freedom in practice.