L T Hobhouse

Liberalism L T Hobhouse

Liberalism. THE modern State is the distinctive product of unique civilization. But it is a product which is still in the making, and a part of the process is a struggle between new and old principles of social order. To understand the new, which is our main purpose, we must first cast a glance at the old. We must understand what the social structure was, which mainly, as I shall show, under the inspiration of Liberal ideas is slowly but surely giving place to the new fabric of the civic State. The older structure itself was by no means primitive. What is truly primitive is very hard to say. But one thing is pretty clear. At all times men have lived in societies, and times of kinship and of simple neighbourhood.