POLSCI 1AB3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Economic Surplus
16 Aug 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Political Science 2D03
• “An introduction to institutions delimiting the practice of citizenship in Canada and of the
political values they embody”
• Need to define:
o Institutions
o Citizenship
• Consider values
• Marshall (149): “Citizenship is a status bestowed on those who are full members of a
community. All who possess the status are equal with respect to the rights and duties with
which the status is endowed”
• Issues: Who possesses the status? What is included in the status?
• Marshall sees the content of citizenship as developing over time, from civil rights (“liberty of the
person, freedom of speech, thought and faith, the right to own property and conclude valid
contracts, and the right to justice”) through political rights (“rights to participate in the exercise
of political power”)
• And onto social rights (“rights...to live the life of a civilized being according to the standards
prevailing in the society”)
• Enduring tension between the equality of citizenship, and the inequality of a growing capitalism
Division of the Economy and the Political
• The Political
o Protection of rights
o Enforcement of contracts
o Protect “public goods” (national defence,weights and measures, fair competition)
• The Economic
o Ability to enjoy one’s property
o Decisions about allocation of social resources and economic surplus, seen as apolitical
o “Formally free” labour/labour as a commodity
Marshall (p.150): “For modern contract is essentially an agreement between men who are free and
equal in status, though not necessarily in power”
• What if political rights were used to reduce inequalities in power?
Democracy and Liberty
• Malcolmsen and Myers present these as “regime principles” that are balanced to provide
coherence
• But the history of development of Western political regimes is one of conflict between them,
and of finding ways to incorporate the democratic claims of the masses into existing
liberal/capitalist institutions
Institutions
• The rules of the game?
• Marland and Wesley: A structure that defines and constrains behvaiour within a political system
• Often seen as aligning competing interests towards mutually beneficial ends or as increasing
social efficiency
• Alternatively, the residue of social conflicts: the “rules of the game” reflect past conflicts, and
privilege certain outcomes and interests over others
• In this view, institutions are power-laden: they enable the normalization of unequal social
power
