And very applicable right now.
Impossible to understand the recent encyclical without understanding this principle.
Liberalism since the 1880s has been against any institution that contests the allegiance of the individual with the state. This includes, families, churches and corporations. The Church says that the family is the basic unity of society, then the Church and other voluntary associations and employers. Socialists have always thought of society as no more than collectives of individuals divided into economic classes. Conservatives have historically allied with the Church to oppose collectivism. Liberal Catholics generally go against what the Church teaches, as they tend to compromise and to allow state bureaucracies.
to taker the lead in such matters as education and social services.
bumpus ad summum