Richard C. Cornuelle and the Revolution of Social Responsibility

Abstract

The capacity of a nation to sustain itself as a free society depends upon the extent to which its people have confidence in their own capability to diagnose, act on, and solve social problems. Classical liberal theorist and activist Richard Cornuelle (1927–2011) advanced our understanding of the necessary role of voluntary action in creating and sustaining communities in which people can flourish. Grounded in the methodological principles of Austrian economics, Cornuelle sought to balance libertarian thought by promoting a robust understanding of social process to complement the Austrian economists’ well-developed understanding of market process. The development of this social vision took place through a lifetime process of “action research” that has a tangible legacy for future scholarship of social process and the practices of philanthropists and social entrepreneurs.