Written Assignment - ideological perspectives and liberalism

The author of the first source clearly believes in collectivism. The perspective demonstrated by this source tells the reader that individuals should be free to pursue their own self interest without the fear of being taken advantage of due to competition. People should be fairly awarded for the work that they do and the talents and skills they have that let them do that work. The author is in favor of welfare capitalism and labour standards and unions; if these programs are put in place, people will be able to make use of their skills and talents in order to fearlessly pursue self interest.

The author of the second source strays towards the Right, clearly supporting the idea of capitalism. It is pointed out in this source that promoting economic equality would only result in more problems in the world. The author is arguing in favor of self interest, competition, and economic freedom by pointing out the flaws and consequences produced by rejecting these principles. If the government intervenes in order to flatten the economic hierarchy, everyone will lose; the result would be “to enforce domestic poverty and spread hunger around the globe.” On the other hand, if people are allowed to pursue self interest and competition by means of economic freedom, products can be effectively produced and world poverty and hunger can be avoided.

The third source also demonstrates a perspective of capitalism. The author of this political cartoon clearly believes that there should be an economic hierarchy in which there are rich people who are rich and poor people who are not rich. The characters in this cartoon seem angry and baffled that people at the bottom of the ladder can benefit without having worked for it, while they themselves have worked their whole lives to become rich and stay rich. It is apparent that the principle of economic freedom is supported in this source, and also that competition is needed to obtain the hierarchy produced by economic freedom.

These three sources – although having provided differing perspectives on some of the ways that society should work – have many similarities. All three of the sources agree that self interest is a beneficial way for people to make use of their skills in order to pursue happiness and economic success. The second and third sources have a lot more in common with each other than they do with the first source. The two latter sources share the perspective that capitalism is the ideology that would work best for society, and that economic freedom and competition are necessary principles to be implemented.