Liberal Emancipation

Explorations in Political and Social Economy

Mikayla Novak

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9783031944055
• eBook ISBN: 9783031944062
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

The concept of emancipation is a touchstone issue within classical liberalism. Commonly referred to as a condition in which individuals and groups are liberated from forms of control, domination, or restriction, “emancipation” normatively corresponds with the humane ethical dimension underpinning liberalism as well as the liberal political project of progressively extending the principle of equality of dignity and respect to all persons. “Liberal emancipation” stresses how economic, political, and social freedoms are deeply implicated in promoting upward mobility and individual choice, and countering subjugation and repression, for all human beings, including historically oppressed and marginalized groups.

This contributed volume explores the historical achievements of liberal emancipation as well as its contemporary relevance to pressing economic, political, and social issues.

Table of contents

• Mercatus Studies in Political and Social Economy
• Liberal Emancipation
• Acknowledgments
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• 1. Introduction: The Meaning of Liberal Emancipation—An Outline
• 2. Property Rights and the Liberating Effect of Generalized Increasing Returns: A Reassessment of the New History of Capitalism and the Economics of Slavery
• 3. Buchanan’s Theory of Emancipation: Artifactual Man in Perspective
• 4. Power to the Powerless: Evolutionary Freedom as Emancipation
• 5. Liberal Emancipation as a System of Social Learning
• 6. Ostromian Self-governance: Emancipation or Simply Changing the Locus of Servitude?
• 7. How the Other Half Lives: The Emancipatory Contributions of the Chicago School of Sociology
• 8. The Classical Liberal Response to Critical Race Theory: Material Gains, Expressivity, and Divisions of Power
• 9. Emancipation and “The Woman Question”
• 10. A Radical Liberal Approach to LGBTQ Emancipation
• 11. Conclusion
• Index