Social Theory in Britain and Europe 1850-2000

A key feature of social theory is a movement from laissez-faire individualism to a collectivist view of society and social responsibility. How should society (and law) deal with accidents and harms caused others? How were losses caused by the actions of others to be made good? Ideas of personal and social responsibility shifted over time.

Key thinkers, both in Britain and in continental Europe understood the relationship between society and the individual to be important. Attention turned to the notion of social and economic rights and the role of the state in protecting and promoting them.