Cultural liberalism is a liberal view of society that stresses the freedom of individuals from cultural norms. It is often expressed, in the words of Thoreau as the right to "march to the beat of a different drummer". Cultural liberals believe that society should not impose any specific code of behaviour, and they see themselves as defending the rights of non-conformists to express their own identity however they see fit, as long as they do not hurt anyone.
The culture wars in politics are disagreements between cultural liberals and cultural conservatives. Cultural liberals are strongly opposed to censorship or any kind of oversight of spoken or written material in peacetime. They believe that the structure of one's family and the nature of marriage should be left up to individual decision, and they argue that, as long as one does no harm, no lifestyle is inherently better than any other. Because cultural liberalism expresses the social dimension of liberalism, it is often referred to as "social liberalism", but it is not to be confused with the ideology of that name.
Famous quotes containing the words cultural and/or liberalism:
“A society that has made “nostalgia” a marketable commodity on the cultural exchange quickly repudiates the suggestion that life in the past was in any important way better than life today.”
—Christopher Lasch (b. 1932)
“There are two kinds of liberalism. A liberalism which is always, subterraneously authoritative and paternalistic, on the side of one’s good conscience. And then there is a liberalism which is more ethical than political; one would have to find another name for this. Something like a profound suspension of judgment.”
—Roland Barthes (1915–1980)