Subsidiarity and Solidarity in Adam Smith’s Free Society

Adam Smith is commonly portrayed as a champion of market freedom, yet this reading obscures the broader political framework underlying his conception of a free society. This paper argues that Smith’s social thought is structured by two complementary principles—subsidiarity and solidarity—which together constitute the normative architecture of modern liberty. Reconstructing Smith’s neglected theory of political society, it shows that the public good cannot be reduced to market prosperity or the aggregation of private interests, but encompasses freedom, opulence, and collective happiness. Subsidiarity is reflected in Smith’s account of limited yet active government, while solidarity emerges from his moral psychology of sympathy and his account of human interdependence. Their integration explains why Smith rejects both laissez-faire and paternalism, instead defending a commercial society in which markets, political institutions, and intermediary communities jointly sustain independent agency and human flourishing.