The New Liberty by Ralf Dahrendorf

Author:Ralf Dahrendorf [Dahrendorf, Ralf]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, Social Theory, Social Classes & Economic Disparity, Demography, General, Philosophy, Social
ISBN: 9781000533163
Google: k_VPEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2022-01-03T01:00:55+00:00

Four

On difference: the small (and sometimes not so small) things which matter

To those who have followed me up to this point, the territory which I have traversed in the last two lectures must have appeared not only a little arid, but a curious mixture of familiar experiences and strange, not to say foreign, sights. The reason is simple. I have spoken of our societies, the advanced democratic societies of the world, in rather general terms. In fact, such generalities often mean little. When people pore over a map of the world, trying to pinpoint the place where they would really like to live, or perhaps invest their savings, or merely spend their next holidays, they do not much care about concepts like advanced or industrial or even post-industrial society. Australia is attractive for its open spaces, whereas the American frontier is now closed; Holland seems a safer bet for one's money than Italy where social unrest and economic uncertainty cloud the future; holidays in Switzerland may be expensive, but one is less likely to get involved in a revolution or civil war than around the Mediterranean Sea. People may have other motives, but in any case these are not general, but specific, and since such specific motives have a great deal to do with hope, with chances of life, and thus with liberty, we must not ignore them here.

There is another, an almost statistical point which I want to make at the beginning of a lecture on the small (and sometimes not so small) things which matter: the end of expansion is also the end of the average. Whereas for many years, the development of countries, indeed of continents could be described in highly general figures, the percentage growth of world trade for example, or of gross national products, of family incomes, the consumption of luxury goods, student numbers, and so on, such averages are now losing much of their meaning. World trade may still expand, but it is becoming an intricate mixture of genuinely free trade and barter arrangements between capitalist and socialist, or oil consuming and oil producing, or developed and developing countries. Gross national products may still rise, but the variance between extremes of depression and opportunity is increasing in unusual ways. At a time of general expansion, average figures gave some indication of a trend felt by most. The end of the average means that much more attention will have to be given to differences, to regional or structural policies for example in addition to general economic policy, and that the internal flexibility of societies matters more than their capacity to expand. We will, so to speak, no longer grow out of our problems, but have to cope with them instead.

In this lecture, I want to discuss some of the differences which matter for the future of liberty: differences between Britain and Germany, capitalist and socialist countries, and societies at varying stages of economic and political development.

Comparing Britain and Germany is, as you will appreciate, a rather personal task for this year's Reith Lecturer.

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