RUNNING HEAD: RESISTANCE TO LIBERALISM

The Justification of Resisting Liberalism

Liberalism, in general, was an ideological movement that emerged out of the ideas of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century. It embraced the ideas of individualism which were established in the Renaissance and Reformation era. The Renaissance period sparked a belief in the importance of the individual in society. It helped promote the beliefs of classical liberalism which gradually formed into the liberal ideology of the 19th century. Individuals that were waiting to get their individual rights and freedoms were allowed to finally gain liberty and power through this period of time. Classical liberalism developed
These ideologies that developed in response to the classical liberalism all played a fundamental role in shaping society and justifying their resistance to liberalism seeing that liberalism failed to fulfill the promises that it introduced in the earlier periods.

In addition, liberalism led to a discrepancy in the economic structure of society. It resulted in financial disasters like the Great Depression and the stock market crash. Laissez-faire capitalism led to widespread business failures and poverty. The Great Depression was a direct result of a free-market economic system. Following the extended period of prosperity of the 1920s, the world economy suffered the extreme recession which had severe long-lasting effects. Factories closed down, banks failed and international trade declined due to the stock market crash which was mainly the effect of the failed methods of liberalism (Fielding, 2009). “The stock market crash was an interrelated series of events which resulted after the stock prices of successful companies increased. Many people started borrowing money to invest in the stock market on the assumption that prices would continue rise”. The shift towards welfare capitalism did not really change the economic structure of the liberalist society because it was mainly orientated towards the workplace and giving workers