What Is Modern Liberalism?
Modern liberalism in the United States emerged with Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s and is the prevailing version of liberalism in the country. Part of the Liberal family.
Definition
Modern liberalism in the United States emerged with Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s and is the prevailing version of liberalism in the country.
Definition quoted from Wikipedia: Modern liberalism in the United States (text available under CC BY-SA 4.0; checked October 20, 2026).
Core ideas
- Civil rights and civil liberties.
- Welfare state and public services.
- Regulated, mixed economy.
Origins
The Progressive Era and the New Deal in the United States.
Associated thinkers and leaders
Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Rawls
Core ideas, origins and thinkers: Atlas summary.
Where Modern Liberalism sits on the Atlas maps
| Map dimension | Score (0–100) | Position | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Collective / planned ↔ Market | 52 | near the center | |
| Social Progressive ↔ Traditional | 19 | toward progressive | |
| Authority Libertarian ↔ Authoritarian | 25 | toward libertarian | |
| National identity Cosmopolitan ↔ Nationalist | 29 | toward cosmopolitan | |
| Foreign policy Non-intervention ↔ Intervention | 53 | near the center |
All nine underlying dimensions
| Dimension | Score | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Economic ownership Collective ownership ↔ Private ownership | 60 | near the center |
| Civil liberties Civil liberty ↔ State restrictions | 37 | near the center |
| National identity Cosmopolitan ↔ Nationalist | 29 | toward cosmopolitan |
| Social and cultural values Progressive ↔ Traditionalist | 20 | toward progressive |
| Political governance Democratic ↔ Autocratic | 14 | strongly toward democratic |
| Equality and hierarchy Egalitarian ↔ Hierarchical | 33 | toward egalitarian |
| Economic management Free market ↔ State planning | 59 | near the center |
| Military intervention Non-intervention ↔ Intervention | 53 | near the center |
| Religion and government Secular state ↔ Religious authority | 17 | toward secular state |
These positions are estimates on the Atlas’s nine-dimension scale, produced by running the tradition’s core principles through the same questions and scoring used for test-takers. They are interpretations for comparison, not objective measurements. How scores are made.
Estimated positions on key questions
| Statement | Position | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Opposition parties should be free to compete in elections. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Religious doctrine should take precedence over civil law when they conflict. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| People should be free to criticize the government without fear of legal punishment. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Preserving a historic national majority is a legitimate immigration objective. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| The means of production should ultimately be owned collectively. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Same-sex couples should have the same right to marry as opposite-sex couples. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Central economic planning is preferable to decentralized market decisions. | Disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Society works best when established social hierarchies are respected. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Non-intervention should be the default even when allies request military assistance. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| During a pandemic, governments should be able to order people to stay at home except for essential reasons. | Disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
Related ideologies
Main differences from the closest ideologies
- Compared with Social Liberalism, Modern Liberalism sits 10 points further toward intervention on the foreign policy dimension.
- Compared with Liberalism, Modern Liberalism sits 11 points further toward collective / planned on the economic dimension.
- Compared with Liberal Democracy, Modern Liberalism sits 13 points further toward collective / planned on the economic dimension.
Figures with the closest estimated positions
Closeness of estimated positions only; this does not mean these people identify with Modern Liberalism.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Modern liberalism in the United States
- Wikipedia: Modern Liberalism (Wikipedia search)
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Liberalism
Position last reviewed: not yet reviewed individually.