Something which occurred to me is that the difference between what people call Social and Economic Liberalism often comes down to the degree of faith you have in the state.
I have very little faith in the ability of the state to produce good outcomes (let alone the best ones) so I look to the state having a minimal role, which puts me in the ‘economic liberal’ camp.
People who tend to have more faith in the state tend to be more interventionist and are generally thought of as ’social liberals’.
This could also be characterised as a faith, or lack of, in markets, us ‘economic liberals’ like markets (so long as they’re sensible ones), but there’s a great deal more skepticism about them from ’social liberals’.
The key thing however is that most liberals share common aims. Individual freedom first of all, but as a step to that things like a good education for all, equality before the law, access to information, a political system which prevents accumulation of large amounts of power etc.
How those are provided really brings out the debate.
