Abstract
The liberal principle of freedom and responsibility built in our ordinary language operates as the basis of social order. However, how does the principle organize our society? In this paper, I examine (1) the nature of “the social order of civil society” based on the institution of liberalism, and (2) the meanings of the principle of freedom and responsibility in the context of expanding poverty and inequality, from the point of view of the maintenance of normative social order. Analyses using the model of “Liberal Paradox” and data from a 2005 Japanese national survey reveals following results: (1) the maintenance of the social order of civil society requires that people have the sufficient freedom to take self-responsibility, and (2) paradoxically, the refusal of redistribution of resources for the reason of self-responsibility can undermine the foundation of normative social order of liberalism, that is, the principle of freedom and responsibility itself.
