Privatism is a generic term generally describing any belief that people have a right to the
private ownership of certain things. According to different perspectives, it describes also the attitude of people to be concerned only about ideas or facts that affect them as individuals.
There are many degrees of privatism, from the advocacy of limited private property over specific kinds of items (
personal property) to the advocacy of unrestricted private property over everything; such as in
anarcho-capitalism. Regarding public policy, it gives primacy to the private sector as the central agent for action, necessitates the social and economic benefits for private initiatives and competition, and "legitimizes the public consequences of private action"
Sociology
Privatism is based on the concept of individual sphere of interactions. According to this point of view, collective efforts can’t be meaningful by themselves, but they can gain meaning only if considered as a sum of individual activities.
Hence, every single action (economical, social, spiritual and so on) can be seen only as the result of an individual choice. For this reason, privatism is based on the concept of individual consumption. Indeed, the private consumption reflects the singular choice of the consumer that according to his own value and prerogatives decide how to consume its own income.
Political theory
The political ideals of privatism are directly consequent of the interpretation of
society
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...
as just the sum of individuals that compose it. Indeed, privatism supporters believe that the economic role of the
welfare state
A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equita ...
should be reduced, giving more freedom to consumers and private volunteering organizations to operate inside the economic environment. According to this view, the private
allocation of resources
In economics, resource allocation is the assignment of available resources to various uses. In the context of an entire economy, resources can be allocated by various means, such as markets, or planning.
In project management, resource allocation ...
would be more efficient and less authoritarian than the one provided by the state.
From this point of view, the formation of common social and political views on various topics, is connected to the free choice of individuals. Moreover, as considered by
Jürgen Habermas, their ability to create these opinions would be damaged by the excessive role of the state that would limit the creation of volunteering and private societies and so the social and political debate inside a society.
One of the main examples of privatism-driven action in politics, can be represented by the action of Margaret Thatcher towards the British welfare state, that during the 80’s was deeply defunded and reduced of importance.
Left-wing criticism
In general, ''privatism'' is used in the context of
left-wing politics
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soc ...
to distinguish ideologies which support private ownership of an economy's
means of production
The means of production is a term which describes land, labor and capital that can be used to produce products (such as goods or services); however, the term can also refer to anything that is used to produce products. It can also be used as an ...
and those who desire abolishing it in favour of either
collective ownership
Collective ownership is the ownership of property by all members of a group. The breadth or narrowness of the group can range from a whole society to a set of coworkers in a particular enterprise (such as one collective farm). In the latter (narro ...
or
common ownership. The term is not held as being synonymous with capitalism, however, as the
capitalist mode of production is generally understood to be characterized by attributes beyond the private ownership of the means of production.
According to an interpretation given by
George Lipsitz
George Lipsitz is an American Studies scholar and professor in the Department of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of over half a dozen books, including ''The Possessive Investment in Whiteness''. He is ...
, privatism needs to be considered hostile towards social life of a community, because it results in segregation and extreme inequalities. Moreover, in his perspective, privatism supporters tend to be less involved in social life leading to severe consequences on the social environment.
See also
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Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
*
Propertarianism
Propertarianism, or proprietarianism, is a political philosophy that reduces all questions of ethics to the right to own property. On property rights, it advocates private property based on Lockean sticky property norms, where an owner keeps th ...
*
Privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
References
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Economic ideologies