Welfare State Individualism

714 Words2 Pages

The idea of a welfare state was created from a misguided desire to gain social equality. This created a society dependent on the government, but with encouragement of individualism this dependence will be removed. The ideological perspective of the author is neoconservative, which in the message the author is trying to suggest that individuals in a welfare state will become dependent on the government to provide them with programs and initiatives. The author believes a state should not be involved within the economy and should encourage individualism. This is shown when the author says “a culture dependency on the state has emerged” and “only in a state that promotes individualism will such dependency be eliminated”. This relates to liberalism because of how it promotes self interest and self reliance compared to collective well being, this is shown when the author says “ only in a state that promotes individualism will such dependency be eliminated”. Society should rather embrace and develop the idea of a welfare state, which can improve and become beneficial to the state. …show more content…

Societies do not always benefit from self interest and self reliance, this could lead to corruption and exploitation of workers. This was the case during the the Industrial Revolution in Britain occurring in 1760 to 1840. The Industrial Revolution was a time of change to Britain's economy, creating ideas of economic freedom, private property, and competition. However, this did not benefit everyone in society and instead creating a larger gap between classes. This lead to the working class the majority of citizens being exploited, which the middle and upper class gained more wealth. The ideas of individualism in Britain created an even larger gap, resulting in majority of individuals unable to gain their own self interest and proving enough for

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