Overview
- Shows that Smith had a coherent approach to politics and that he exerted considerable influence over government policy
- Contends that Smith was far more pragmatic and less ideological in his approach to governing than is commonly thought
- Argues that Smith was predominantly concerned with practical outcomes that served the welfare of everyone, especially the poor and ‘middling’ classes
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
- welfare
- Adam Smith
- Pragmatic Proto-Liberalism
- Scottish Enlightenment
- Political Sociology
- Liberty
- liberalism
- laissez-faire
- American independence
- globalisation
- Welfare and Liberalism
- Adam Smith Corruption
- Adam Smith political economy
- Crony capitalism
- Food security
- Public management
- Food security and population growth
- Poverty reduction
- Economic sociology
- Positive liberty
About this book
Adam Smith is commonly conceived as either an economist or a moral philosopher so his importance as a political thinker has been somewhat neglected and, at times, even denied. This book reveals the integrated, deeply political project that lies at the heart of Smith’s thought, showing both the breadth and novelty of Smith’s approach to political thought. A key argument running through the book is that attempts to locate Smith on the left-right spectrum (however that was interpreted in the eighteenth century) are mistaken: his position was ultimately dictated by his social scientific and economic thought rather than by ideology or principle. Through examining Smith’s political interests and positions, this book reveals that apparent tensions in Smith's thought are generally a function of his willingness to abandon, not only proto-liberal principles, but even the principles of his own social science when the achievement of good outcomes was at stake. Despite the common perception, negative liberty was not the be-all and end-all for Smith; rather, welfare was his main concern and he should therefore be understood as a thinker just as interested in what we would now call positive liberty. The book will uniquely show that Smith’s approach was basically coherent, not muddled, ad hoc, or ‘full of slips’; in other words, that it is a system unified by his social science and his practical desire to maximise welfare.
Reviews
“Lisa Hill presents a new image of Adam Smith as a political thinker: less radical and less ideological in his defense of liberalism than many have thought, more pragmatic and concerned with the ordinary peoples’ welfare and happiness than libertarians would have liked him to be. She shows us a political thinker as important today as he was in his own time.” (Christel Fricke, Professor, Philosophy, University of Oslo, Norway)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Lisa Hill is Professor of Politics and International Studies at University of Adelaide, Australia.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Adam Smith’s Pragmatic Liberalism
Book Subtitle: The Science of Welfare
Authors: Lisa Hill
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19337-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-19336-2Published: 01 August 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-19339-3Published: 14 August 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-19337-9Published: 22 July 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 237
Topics: Political Theory, US Politics, Political Sociology