ABSTRACT
The goal of this chapter is to explore the connection between the individual and property. In contrast to monarchical methods of governance, the individual and property become the foundation of a new system of modern governance based on natural law theory in the seventeenth century. This analysis will help us to understand how Margaret Thatcher could claim in 1987 that there is no such thing as society (Brown 2019, 28, 115), by examining the concept of reification. In decrying the abstraction of the concept of “society,” Thatcher sought to resolve it into its constituent components, individuals (Brittan 1992). Another strategy will be pursued here, making use of the analysis of language in Chapter 1, which is both beyond the individual and helps relate the individual to larger units.
