Social Liberalism and Liberal Socialism: Tensions and Compatibility
Résumé
Social liberalism and liberal socialism bear an obvious lexical resemblance but does this congruence pave the way for a full theoretical compatibility or do irreconcilable notional differences remain? The article examines several approaches to the question, first from a terminological perspective, then at the possibility of a possible common economic organization and considers the angle of a core concept approach and the final part looks at ``negative values''. The analysis relies on several authors clearly identified as revisionist liberals or non-orthodox socialists. It spans from the well-known social turn of new liberalism towards the end of the nineteenth century, to contemporary liberal egalitarianism, as well as the later liberal turn of socialism, mostly in reaction to the drift towards totalitarianism, as embodied notably by Erik Olin Wright's thought.