A political ideology centred upon the individual (see individualism ), thought of as possessing rights against the government, including rights of equality of respect, freedom of expression and action, and freedom from religious and ideological constraint. Liberalism is attacked from the left as the ideology of free markets, with no defence against the accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of a few, and as lacking any analysis of the social and political nature of persons. It is attacked from the right as insufficiently sensitive to the value of settled institutions and customs, or the need for social structure and constraint in providing the matrix for individual freedoms.
Philosophy dictionary. Academic. 2011.