Politics: Socialism - Human Nature

-They were the first socialist thinkers to offer a fulsome analysis of how humans were social and economic beings.

-Specifically, they argued that human nature had been contaminated by the prevailing economic system - capitalism - which encouraged selfishness, ruthlessness and greed.

-They argued further that capitalism had instilled in mankind a 'false consciousness' far removed from mankind's original nature - one that had been cooperative, selfless and fraternal.

-The task, they argued, was to create a new, non-capitalist economic system that would revive such noble characteristics.

-In 'Beyond Left and Right' (1994) he first established his credentials as a socialist sympathiser, highlighting the 'corrosive' effects of capitalism and individualism upon community and fraternity.

-Yet, he also stressed that capitalism and individualism were irreversible and that any future project towards greater equality would have to take account of this.

-During the mid-20th century, Fordist capitalism, based on huge industrial units of mass production, had spawned tightly knit urban communities, based on a uniformity of income and employment.

-These communities, he explained, complemented human nature's yearning for solidarity and fellowship by giving their members a strong sense of support and identity, which might then encourage them to challenge both economic and cultural elites (traditional trade unionism being one expression of this).

-Yet, the post-Fordist capitalism of the late 20th and early 21st centuries - involving the decline of heavy industry - had fragmented such communities, 'atomised' the modern workforce and left individuals feeling alienated.

-He accepted that in many respects, this post-Fordist capitalism was liberating for individuals - they were now freer than ever to 'self-actualise' and carve out individual identities.

-Yet, those individuals would also find it harder to develop, precisely because society was becoming increasingly amorphous and ill-defined.

-Stripped of the communities that once gave them confidence, human beings were likely to be less sure-footed and more likely to be influenced by both economic and cultural elites.

-So, for him, the great irony was that the 'individualisation' of society might actually result in less individualism.

-He therefore argued that if human nature were to flourish in the 21st century, the state - while retreating from economic management - would have to be more proactive, investing heavily in infrastructure (for example, better public transport and community services) and a modernised system of education, designed to prepare citizens for the knowledge economy (one which physical capacity was less important).

-In his later books, 'The Conservative Enemy' and 'Socialism Now' (1974), he argued for a new form of state education, which would end the segregation of pupils at the age of 11 and create new schools catering for all abilities.

-He believed these comprehensive schools would break down class divisions far more effectively than any extension of public ownership while ensuring all pupils had equality of opportunity.

-He pursued this idea while Secretary of State for Education between 1965 and 1967, initiating a process that made comprehensive education the norm by the time of his death.

-Capitalism was the principle cause of 'crippling poverty and demeaning inequality' in society and a 'corrupting force' for humanity, fostering 'unnatural' levels of avarice and selfishness among men and women.

-Like other early democratic socialists, she, despairing of capitalism's volatility, looked forward to a more planned and 'rational' society where 'matters may be resolved sensibly...by rational, educated and civic-minded officials'.

-So for her, the mayhem associated with revolution did not seem the ideal starting point for a bright and orderly future.

-As man’s natural condition is ‘co-operative’ humanity needs to be guided back to its original human nature which is ‘empathetic, fraternal and co-operative.’

-In one of her earliest publications, 'Reform or Revolution?' (1900), she accepted Marx's argument that capitalism promoted exploitation and was at odds with humanity's natural, fraternal instincts.