Social Movements and Politics

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how social movements throughout history represented a new kind of politics. The paper contends that social movements have always helped bring about political change or a new type of politics, naming social philosophers kindred to politicians. The paper explains that one cannot study or offer a new type of social philosophy or movement without effecting political change. By examining the history of several social movements, the paper discovers political changes caused by the effects of these movements. The paper focuses on Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Stuart Mills who both initiated social movements that brought about a new type of politics.

From the Paper:

"Jean-Jacques Rousseau makes it explicitly clear in his writings found "The Social Contract and Discourses" that he believes strongly in personal freedom and autonomy. Rousseau believed that a truly free government is one where everyone votes, every citizen. Rousseau argues that by everyone surrendering his or her rights to the sovereign equally they maintain freedom. He believes man has the most freedom in the state of nature, but because man has the ability to rationalize and the desire to be social, he must enter a social contract with others in order to have a free and equal society. Rousseau adamantly defends his belief in autonomy in his Discourses on the State of Nature, the Social Contract, and Sovereignty."

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