Figure 1. 19th Century Liberalism

Figure 1. Liberalism was an ideology designed to protect middle class wealth. The figure demonstrates that industrialization led to the emergence of the bourgeoisie class, which, with the help of thinkers like Smiles who wrote Self-Help, advocated for the principles that were organized under the ideology of Liberalism. Here Self-Help, a novel that praised self-reliance in the industrialized society, is depicted as a pathway because while it was both a realization of the emergence of a new middle class and an optimistic reaction to industrialized production, it also promoted ideas that resonated with the bourgeoisie in a way that glorified and facilitated the spread of the liberal ideal. The loop also shows that the emerging elite also played a large role in spurring the American and French Revolutions, which then fostered revolution in Haiti as well as a more radical stage of the French Revolution known as the “Reign of Terror.” These more radical revolutions sparked fear not only in traditional authorities, but also the emerging elite that hoped to predict their gains from the more moderate goals of the first revolutions. This fear also fed into the ideology Liberalism, which advocated for economic and political freedoms that would protect the property and rights of the emerging elite. Liberalism’s emphasis on individualism and questioning the relationship between individual liberty and the State led to a rejection, indicated by the (–) next to the arrow, of traditional authority, arbitrary power, and government intervention. Liberalism advocated, indicated by the (+), for economic and political freedom, which reinforced each other. The ideology also reinforced the idea that the role government was to protect individual liberty, and thus derived its power from the consent of the governed. This idea was originally posed by John Locke and incorporated into the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The figure shows that traditional authorities tended to undermine the emergence of a new elite (arrow from the traditional authority box to the bourgeoisie has a (–) sign), but since liberalism undermined these authorities, it promoted their own status. Similarly, the economic and political freedoms advocated by liberalism helped assure continued industrial growth, an example of positive feedback.