Cultural liberalism is a social philosophy which expresses the social dimension of liberalism and advocates the freedom of individuals to choose whether to conform to cultural norms. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, it is often expressed as the right to "march to the beat of a different drummer". Also known as social liberalism in the United States and Canada, while cultural progressivism does overlap with cultural liberalism, it does not mean exactly the same thing as cultural liberalism. Cultural liberalism can be thought of as emphasizing a balance between positive liberty and negative liberty, whereas cultural progressivism can instead be seeing as prioritizing social justice and social equality over individual freedom.
The United States refers to cultural liberalism as social liberalism; however, it is not the same as the broader political ideology known as social liberalism. In the United States, social liberalism describes progressive moral and social values or stances on socio-cultural issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage as opposed to social conservatism. A social conservative or a social liberal in this sense may hold either more conservative or progressive views on fiscal policy.
