Political Science · Political Theory
UGC NET January 2017 Political Science
Who among the following described the welfare state as a kind of enslavement?
AKarl Popper
BFA Hayek
CRobert Nozick ✓ Correct
DMilton Friedman
Answer: C
Explanation
★The thinker who described the welfare state as a kind of enslavement is Robert Nozick.
★In Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) Nozick attacked redistributive taxation used to fund welfare as morally illegitimate.
★He argued that taxing people's earnings from labour is on a par with forced labour, since it claims a portion of their work for others.
★On this view the welfare state effectively conscripts part of a person's labour, which is why he likened it to enslavement.
★Hayek and Friedman also criticised the welfare state, but this particular forced-labour argument is Nozick's.
★So Robert Nozick is the correct answer.
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