Read the following passage and answer the questions What are the seed beds of civic virtue? There are a variety of aspects of liberal society that can be seen as inculcating civic virtues, including the market, civic associations, and the family. Let me briefly look at each of these theorists of the New Right' often praise the market as a school of civic virtue. Many Thatcher/Reagan reforms of the 1980s aimed to extend the scope of markets in people's lives through free trade, deregulation, tax cuts, the weakening of trade unions, and reducing welfare benefits in part in order to teach people the virtues of initiative and self-reliance. Much of the recent right wing attack on the welfare state has been formulated precisely in terms of citizenship. The welfare state was said to promote passivity amongst the poor, creating a culture of dependency reducing citizens to passive dependants under bureaucratic tutelage. The market, by contrast, encourages people to be self-supporting. The new right believes that being self-supporting is not only an important civic virtue in itself, but also a precondition for being accepted as a full member of society. By failing to meet the obligation to support themselves, the long-term unemployed are a source of shame for society as well as themselves.
What is it that the ‘New Right’ does not associate with ‘self-supporting’ as a civic virtue?
Being a career oriented selfish person
Analyzing the New Right's View on Self-Supporting as a Civic Virtue
The question asks us to identify what the 'New Right' does not associate with 'self-supporting' as a civic virtue, based on the provided passage. To answer this, we need to understand how the passage describes the New Right's perspective on 'self-supporting'.
Understanding the New Right's Perspective in the Passage
The passage discusses the New Right's views on civic virtue and the role of institutions like the market and the welfare state. It states that theorists of the New Right often praise the market as a school of civic virtue. They believe that reforms extending the scope of markets aim to teach people virtues like initiative and self-reliance.
The passage contrasts the market with the welfare state, which the New Right criticizes for promoting passivity and creating a 'culture of dependency'. The market, conversely, is seen as encouraging people to be 'self-supporting'.
Crucially, the passage explicitly states the New Right's belief regarding 'self-supporting':
- Being self-supporting is an important civic virtue in itself.
- Being self-supporting is a precondition for being accepted as a full member of society.
- Failing to meet the obligation to support themselves (i.e., not being self-supporting) is a source of shame.
These points clearly link 'self-supporting' to civic virtue, full societal membership, and fulfilling a societal obligation.
Evaluating the Options
Let's examine each option in light of the passage's description of the New Right's views:
- citizenship: The passage frames the entire discussion in terms of citizenship, contrasting the welfare state (leading to passive dependants) with the market (encouraging self-support, which is a civic virtue). The attack on the welfare state is formulated in terms of citizenship. This suggests a strong association between self-support and citizenship from the New Right's viewpoint.
- Full membership of a society: The passage directly states that being self-supporting is "a precondition for being accepted as a full member of society." This option is explicitly linked to self-supporting by the New Right in the text.
- Being a career oriented selfish person: The passage emphasizes civic virtues like initiative, self-reliance, and fulfilling obligations for societal membership. It criticizes dependency and passivity. There is no mention or implication that the New Right associates being 'self-supporting' with being merely 'career oriented' in a selfish way. The focus is on the civic and social aspects, not individualistic self-interest detached from societal contribution or obligation.
- Full filling the obligation to support oneself: The passage mentions the shame associated with failing to meet "the obligation to support themselves." This strongly implies that fulfilling this obligation is what being self-supporting means in this context and is considered a civic virtue.
Conclusion
Based on the passage, the New Right associates self-supporting with citizenship, full membership in society, and fulfilling a civic obligation. It does not associate self-supporting with being a career-oriented selfish person. The passage's context for self-support is civic responsibility and societal integration, not selfish individualism.
| Concept Associated with Self-Supporting by New Right (as per passage) | Reference in Passage |
|---|---|
| Civic Virtue | "...being self-supporting is not only an important civic virtue in itself..." |
| Precondition for Full Membership of Society | "...but also a precondition for being accepted as a full member of society." |
| Fulfilling an Obligation | "By failing to meet the obligation to support themselves..." |
| Opposite of Welfare Dependency/Passivity | Contrast drawn between market (encourages self-supporting) and welfare state (promotes passivity, dependency) |
The passage does not provide any basis to associate 'self-supporting' with the negative framing of 'being a career oriented selfish person' in the context of the New Right's view on civic virtue.
Revision Table: Key Concepts
| Term | Description in Passage Context | New Right's View |
|---|---|---|
| Civic Virtue | Qualities or behaviors considered beneficial to society. | Can be inculcated by market, associations, family; includes initiative, self-reliance, self-support. |
| Self-supporting | Ability to provide for oneself financially/economically. | An important civic virtue; precondition for full societal membership; fulfilling an obligation. |
| Market | Economic system based on free exchange. | Praised as a school of civic virtue (initiative, self-reliance). |
| Welfare State | System where state protects health and well-being of citizens. | Criticized by New Right for promoting passivity and dependency, hindering citizenship. |
Additional Information: New Right Ideology and Citizenship
The passage reflects a common theme in New Right political thought, particularly in the 1980s, which emphasized individual responsibility and limited government intervention, especially in the economy and welfare provisions. The critique of the welfare state as fostering dependency rather than enabling active citizenship was central to this view.
The concept of 'citizenship' is often debated, particularly regarding the balance between rights and responsibilities. The New Right perspective highlighted in the passage leans towards emphasizing the responsibilities of citizens, such as the obligation to be self-supporting, as fundamental to their status and participation in society. This contrasts with perspectives that might place greater emphasis on the state's role in providing rights and social safety nets.
The idea that the market can instill virtues is also a key part of this ideology. Engagement in the market, with its requirements for negotiation, risk-taking, and responsiveness, is seen as building character traits (like initiative and self-reliance) that are valuable for both individual success and the collective good of a market society.
Understanding this background helps contextualize why the New Right would value 'self-supporting' so highly as a civic virtue and associate it with core aspects of citizenship and societal membership, rather than purely individualistic careerism.
Important Questions from Political Theory
Which of the following types of policy evaluation lays emphasis on determining the success level in achieving its basic objectives?
Name the editor of the book, "Towards a New Public Administration-Minnowbrook":
Who defined leadership as "the ability of a manager to induce subordinates to work with zeal and confidence"?
Who defined Public Administration as "the art and science of management applied to the affairs of the state"?
The term "Sanskritisation" was coined by
