Answer | Hint | % Correct |
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Anthony Crosland (1918-1977) | This key thinker argues human nature has a powerful sense of 'fairness' and an innate objection to huge inequalities of outcome: -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. | 100%
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Anthony Giddens (1938-) | This key thinker argues human nature has been shaped by changing socio-economic conditions - the pro-fairness instinct is still present, but it now competes with a sharpened sense of individual aspiration: -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). | 100%
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Beatrice Webb (1858-1943) | This key thinker argues the damage inflicted by capitalism upon the human psyche will be compounded only by violent revolution - humanity needs to be guided back, gradually, to its original, cooperative condition: -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.’ | 100%
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Marx and Engels | These key thinkers argue human nature, originally fraternal and altruistic, has been contaminated by capitalism, instilling the 'false consciousness' of bourgeois values - revolutionary socialism, however, will repair this: -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. | 100%
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Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) | This key thinker argues human nature has not been damaged to the extent Marx alleged - fraternity and altruism still flourish in working-class communities punished by capitalist economics: -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. | 100%
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