Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Christian religious ideology dominated Europe during the medieval period. The
Renaissance and the spread of secular humanism freed ideology from its ties to medieval
Christian religion. Rationalism arose as a philosophic outlook in the 1600s, launching off the
modern era in the West. It ushered in an Age of Reason or Enlightenment for humankind, as
opposed to the medieval period that was then increasingly viewed as the superstitious and
ignorant “Dark Ages”. The modern ideologies that emerged in the West, influenced social
change as follows:
1. Rationalism influenced scientism, liberalism, democracy, and together with capitalism,
led to industrialisation.
2. Nationalism and Social Darwinism promoted international trade, justified colonisation,
and established the capitalistic paradigm of development in most parts of the world,
dividing it into the First World and the Third World.
3. Socialism aimed to counter the uncontrolled growth of liberalistic ideologies and led to
the emergence of communist rule in some countries which are together called the Second
World.
4. Liberalism and socialism have influenced the welfare policy at different points in history.
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These Western modern ideologies known as the classical ideologies are useful to
contextualise the origin of social work profession.
Learning Outcome
1. Review how rationalism is the foundation of the modern ideologies and has led to
scientism that resulted in advancement of human knowledge and technology on one hand,
and non-Western traditions being excluded as knowledge, on the other;
2. Examine the ideology of liberalism as the most important ideological force in the Western
history, comprising of values of individualism, freedom, rationalism, equality of
opportunities, and meritocracy;
3. Review how the ideologies of liberalism and democracy have led the foundation of
“modern nation-states”, which accompanied a transition of power from the monarchies to
the industrialist commercial group;
4. Examine the emergence of democracy based on the assumptions that no person was
naturally superior to another; each person enjoys equal political rights; and anyone
entrusted with special powers must be accountable to the people as a whole;
5. Understand capitalism as the investment of money in the expectation of making a profit
through free operation of supply and demand, self-interest and competition; and
6. Analyse industrialisation, characterized by large-scale production, the accumulation of
capital and relentless growth, leading to class stratification, urbanisation, social mobility,
new gender and family roles, demographic transition, etc.
During the Renaissance, there was a gradual shift away from religious sensibilities and to
scientific objectivity. Reasoning replaced religion as the source of knowledge (The World
Book Encyclopaedia, 1988). According to Heywood (2007), rationalism is the belief that the
world has a rational structure, and that this can be disclosed through the exercise of human
reason and critical enquiry. As a philosophical theory, rationalism is the belief that
knowledge flows from reason rather than experience. The power of reason gave human
beings the capacity to take charge of their own lives and fashion their own destinies. Science
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enabled remarkable advances to be made in human knowledge and provided the basis for the
development of modern industry and technology. A further legacy of rationalism is that
liberals view human history in terms of progress.
The ideology of scientism emerged as the belief that scientific method is the only value-free
and objective means of establishing the truth and is applicable to all fields of learning.
Scientism is considered the ideology of the technocratic elite, who are its main beneficiary
and source of funding scientific and technological developments.Each generation is able to
advance beyond the last as the stack of human knowledge progressively increases (Heywood,
2007). However:
• As the 19th century closed, modern science was firmly embedded as the exemplar for
discovering “truth”, and “truth” (often described as reality) was equated only with the
observable and measurable (Geiger, 1947).
• Western science had assumed a god-like supremacy which was to endure throughout most
of the 20th century (Ramsay, 1999).
• The 17th century philosophers in Europe emphasized the division between mind and
matter. Philosophers focused on the mind and left the inquiry about matter to science.
Thus, values were separated from facts, and ever since then human beings have tended to
believe that scientific facts are independent of our values (Capra, 1996).
• It led to the rule of experts, with producers and practitioners of non-reductionist, non-
Western traditions being excluded as knowledge. This has resulted in ecological
disruption (Shiva, 1995).
• Rationalism became a form of cultural imperialism on the ground that it undermines
faith-based belief systems and helps to strengthen western and often materialist modes of
understanding (Heywood, 2007).
Historical Context
As we noted so far, the power of reason gave human beings the capacity to take charge of
their own lives and fashion their own destinies which ultimately led to liberalism and
democracy. When the predominant production process changed from agricultural to
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industrial, the rising industries required labour that was tied to the land.The new middle class
of bankers, traders and manufacturers emerged, whose power lay only in the control of
moveable property. It became imperative for these rising industrial groups and middle class
to displace the feudal lordsfrom the seats of power and to displace the clergy as the
legitimizer of their rule and that of the kings. This led to the following revolutions.
In England, the revolution of 1688 established the supremacy of the British Parliament,
implying that the final authority in political matters belonged to the people and not the
royalty. However, during the 1760s, the British Government began to tax North American
colonists even though the colonists were given no representation in the British Parliament.
The latter refused to pay and war broke out in 1775. This War resulted in American
Independence and Declaration of Rights in 1781. The People of 18th century France had long
suffered from the evil of exploitation in the feudal system. The majority suffered from high
taxes, bad harvests, and limitations on their freedom (World History, 1996). The French
Revolution with the slogan of "liberty, fraternity and equality" resulted in the Declaration of
the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789 (United Nations, 1992). It did not make France
a democracy, but limited the king’s powers. The liberal revolutions of England, USA and
France led to the establishment of many governments based on rule by law and by the
consent of the governed.
Thus, the ideologies of liberalism and democracy emerged as products of the revolutions that
broke down feudalism and limited king’s powers in Europe and the growth in its place of a
market or capitalist society.
Liberalism
• Freedom: Individual freedom is the unifying principle within liberal ideology. It gave
individuals the opportunity to pursue their own interests by exercising choice.
• Equality of Opportunity: In liberalism, each individual should have an equal
opportunity to develop on an even playing field. This is not to say there should be
equality of outcome or reward.
• Meritocracy: Liberalism values meritocracy with the belief thata meritocratic society is
one in which merit is rewarded so inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect
the unequal distribution of merit or skills among human beings.
Democracy
Earlier political theorists such as Plato and Aristotle viewed democracy as a system of rule by
the masses at the expense of wisdom and property (Heywood, 2007). Until the emergence of
the concept of democracy, good government meant government by a wise monarch, or an
enlightened aristocracy. This was changed with the emergence of the ideology of democracy.
Democracy is rule by the people, implying both popular participation and government
functioning in the public interest (Heywood, 2007). The emergence of democracy was based
on two assumptions:
• No person was naturally superior to another; each person enjoys equal political rights;
and
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• Anyone entrusted with special powers must be accountable to the people as a whole
(Miller, 2003).
Democracy, based on the rule of law, is ultimately a means to achieve international peace and
security, economic and social progress and development, and respect for human rights – the
three pillars of the United Nations mission as set forth in the UN Charter. At the 2005 World
Summit, all the world’s governments reaffirmed “that democracy is a universal value based
on the freely expressed will of people to determine their own political, economic, social and
cultural systems and their full participation in all aspects of their lives” and stressed “that
democracy, development and respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms are
interdependent and mutually reinforcing”. Democratic principles are woven throughout the
normative fabric of the United Nations (http://www.un.org/en/sections/what-we-do/protect-
human-rights/index.html).
As Miller (2003) noted, democracy thrives when there are major opportunities for the mass of
ordinary people actively to participate, through discussion and autonomous organisations, in
shaping the agenda of public life, and when they actively use these opportunities. However,
liberalists have been ambivalent towards democracy as they are afraid that the collective
power can become the enemy of individual liberty. Socialists dismiss liberal democracy as
simply capitalist democracy (Heywood, 2007). Early liberals tried to restrict the exercise of
political power to members of the property-owning middle class. Property and race
qualifications for voting disappeared only gradually. During the second half of the 19th
century, the working classes demanded and received greater political rights. Women could
vote only since the 1920s (The World Book Encyclopaedia, 1988).
Capitalism
Capital is money that is invested in order to make more money. Capitalism is the investment
of money in the expectation of making a profit. A characteristic feature of the development of
capitalist societies is the emergence of institutions, such as systems of property law, which
enable the conversion of assets of all kinds into capital (Fulcher, 2004).
Classical economists like Adam Smith were deeply concerned about liberty for individuals
and saw their classical economic doctrines as the best way to ensure it. Smith arranged the
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ideals of economic liberalism in his book on The Wealth of Nations (1776), which had a
strong influence on development of capitalism or free enterprise (Macarov, 1995). Merchants
were the early capitalists before industrialisation. Once capital was accumulated in trading
ventures, it could be invested in production. It was the breakthrough of capitalism in the 18th
century that made 19th century industrialism possible in Britain which was the first industrial
society. International trade enabled the growth of worldwide markets for the goods produced
by capitalist industry (Fulcher, 2004).
According to Adam Smith, the free market, although appearing chaotic and unrestrained, is
actually guided to produce the right amount and variety of goods by a so-called invisible
hand. He argued that self-interested competition in the free market would tend to benefit
society as a whole by keeping prices low, and still building in an incentive for a wide variety
of goods and services. The important thing is that no one should interfere in any way with the
free operation of supply and demand, self-interest and competition (Macarov, 1995).
Industrialization
Historical Context
The dramatic breakthrough in industrialization took place in England around 1750, when
science first mobilized new forms of energy for production at scales that had not been
achieved before. The steam engine marked the decisive turning point of modern history
(Sachs, 2005), leading to change in the mode of production.
Implications
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Infrastructure: The emergence of commercial and industrial economies led to the creation
of the infrastructural public goods required by market economies, such as unified transport
system, a standardized system of weights and measures, a single currency, and the
establishment of a regular and unitary legal system. (Bellamy, 2008).
Industrialization took manufacturing out of the home. Most workers of industries lived and
worked under harsh conditions. Factory wages were purposely kept low, to keep them
working (The World Book Encyclopedia, 1988). As opposed to slaves and serfs, labourers
were formally free, yet they were fully dependent upon the capitalists, economically, as they
must sell their labour to them (Belov, 1986). According to Karl Marx, the capitalist relations
of production were as exploitative as the feudal ones, but liberal ideas of individuality had the
effect of concealing this fact (Fink, 1981).
Summary
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The module reviews how rationalism is the foundation of the modern ideologies and has led
to scientism that resulted in advancement of human knowledge and technology on one hand,
and non-Western traditions being excluded as knowledge, on the other. It examines the ideology of
liberalism as the most important ideological force in the Western history, comprising values
of individualism, freedom, rationalism, equality of opportunities, and meritocracy. It further
reviews how the ideologies of liberalism and democracy have led to the foundation of
“modern nation-states”, which accompanied a transition of power from the monarchies to the
industrialist commercial group. It also examines how democracy emerged based on the
assumptions that no person was naturally superior to another; each person enjoys equal
political rights; and anyone entrusted with special powers must be accountable to the people
as a wholet. It discusses capitalism as the investment of money in the expectation of making a
profit through free operation of supply and demand, self-interest and competition. Finally it
analyses industrialisation, characterized by large-scale production, the accumulation of
capital and relentless growth, leading to class stratification, urbanisation, social mobility, new
gender and family roles, demographic transition, etc.