socialism key ideas

Question 1

Socialism

Answer 1

Socialism is defined by its opposition to capitalism. It aims to provide a clear alternative that is more humane and based on collectivism not individualism co-operation not competition and social equality not inequality.

Question 2

Core Values of Socialism : Collectivism

Answer 2

Collective human effort is of greater value to the economy and to society than the effort of individuals. . People should work together for shared goals, based on common wants and needs , which is otherwise called ‘shared fraternity’.

Question 3

Core Values of Socialism: Co-operation and Community

Answer 3

Humans are social creatures with a tendency to co-operation, sociability and rationality. Individuals cannot be understood without reference to society, as
human behaviour is socially determined. In this sense human nature is ‘malleable and we are naturally ‘fraternal’ towards each other under the right social conditions.

Question 4

Core Values of Socialism: Equality

Answer 4

Inequality is neither natural nor acceptable however there are disagreements among socialists about the nature of equality they wish to achieve Revolutionary Socialists
(fundamentalists) favour absolute equality of outcome to be achieved by creating a classless communist society. Social Democrats (revisionists) favour social equality achieved by managing
the economy and providing comprehensive health, education and welfare schemes.

Question 5

Core Values of Socialism: Social Class

Answer 5

Social class can be defined as one’s social status and position in society, relative to others, typically based on one’s relation to the economic system.
Socialists base their analysis of society, the state and the economy on the class
system Their goal is to remove or reduce social class inequality by abolishing or ‘humanising capitalism.

Question 6

Common Ownership

Answer 6

The means of production are owned collectively and profits are shared. Represents an alternative to both private property and capitalist economy, and a method of ownership (seen by many socialists) as conducive to equality and freedom. Synonymous with state ownership and public ownership.

Question 7

Fraternity

Answer 7

Fraternity denotes socialism’s belief that the relationship between human beings should be marked by generosity, warmth and comradeship, that we should regard our fellow humans as ‘siblings’ rather than opponents.

Question 8

Capitalism

Answer 8

An economic system based on private property, private enterprise and competition between individual organisations. Its tendency to produce unequal outcomes is of concern to most socialists.

Question 9

Social Justice

Answer 9

For socialists, legal and formal justice (as propounded by Liberalism) is not enough to guarantee equality of opportunity. These things must be accompanied by social justice, involving healthcare and education accessible to all or a minimum wage for employees, this would limit inequality within society.

Question 10

Equality of Outcome

Answer 10

Aiding disadvantaged groups to achieve the same outcomes as other groups.

Question 11

Class Consciousness

Answer 11

According to Marx and Engels, this was a by-product of Capitalism that would be especially pronounced among the downtrodden working class or proletariat. It would eventually be the engine of revolution and Capitalism’s destruction.

Question 12

Historic Materialism

Answer 12

This refers to the view of Marx and Engels that each ‘stage’ of history was defined by a clash of economic ideas, relating to how society’s resources should be produced and distributed. According to Marx, the economic system powerfully influences or ‘conditions’ all other aspects of society including its political structure, legal system, culture and religious life.

Question 13

Socialism : Human Nature : General View

Answer 13

Socialists hold a generally optimistic view of human nature, believing that we are naturally capable of being sociable, fraternal and altruistic. They also believe that human nature is malleable, or ‘plastic’, and so can be shaped by the environment. Socialists agree that the right conditions are needed for humans to work towards their collective interests and that this does not exist under capitalism.

Question 14

Socialism : Society : General View

Answer 14

According to socialist ideas, people are shaped by the society they grow up in. A person’s position in society and the level of equality/inequality in society will determine their chances of reaching their potential. Socialists focus on the idea that society is made up of distinct social groups called classes. Socialists argue that in order to prescribe a better society in future, we must first diagnose the society we have today.

Question 15

Socialism : State : General View

Answer 15

Socialists advocate for a strong and extensive state, as without it, it will be impossible to bring about a fairer and more equal society. They believe it would be difficult in the short to medium term at least, to bring about a redistribution of wealth and greater social justice without a society that was expansive and dirigiste. Socialism rejects the monarchical state, it rejects the theocratic state and it rejects the aristocratic state. Instead, socialists advocate a state where political power as well as economic power, has supposedly been redistributed and where decision making reflects the principle of equality and an empowerment of ‘the people’.

Question 16

Socialism : Economy : General View

Answer 16

Socialists have always recognised that an economic system based upon private property and capitalism - as opposed to common ownership - can be hugely problematic. Not only does it generate huge inequalities of outcome, it threatens the ‘natural’ condition of mankind as cooperative and fraternal. Socialism seeks to rectify the problems caused by capitalism by championing an economy that provides for greater worker’s control in employment, and a significant redistribution of wealth and resources within the economy generally.

Question 17

Revolutionary Socialism

Answer 17

Revolutionary Socialism denotes the belief that socialism can only be brought about only by the overthrow of existing political and societal structures.

Question 18

Evolutionary Socialism

Answer 18

A parliamentary route to socialism, which would deliver a long-term, radical transformation in a gradual way through legal and peaceful means, via state reformation.

Question 19

Social Democracy

Answer 19

Social democracy is an ideological view that wishes to humanise capitalism in the interests of social justice.

Question 20

Third Way

Answer 20

The “third way” is a middle-ground alternative route to socialism and free-market capitalism.
The third way is a political and theoretical perspective that seeks to modify left-wing ideas towards the economic and political realities of globalisation. This centre-left way of thinking advocates a balance between rights and responsibilities and a combination of social justice alongside market-oriented economics.

Question 21

Revolutionary Socialism : State

Answer 21

The existing liberal bourgeois state is a toll of the dominant capitalist class, it must be destroyed by revolution and replaced by a new socialist state: the dictatorship of the proletariat. Any evolutionary or revisionist socialist strategy would leave the capitalist system of economic exploitation intact because the contradictions and crises of capitalism made its collapse inevitable. Marx and Engels argue that the new state they commended, the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’, would supposedly obliterate all traces for a liberal-capitalist values and pave the way for a stateless communist-society based on common ownership-one that would be so flawless that it would represent the peak of human achievement. According to Marx/Engels, the state would ‘wither away’ a blissful moment in human evolution, which they described as the ‘end of history’.

Question 22

Revolutionary Socialism : Human Nature

Answer 22

Marx and Engels, revolutionary socialists, believed that the state of human nature is originally fraternal and altruistic but has been contaminated by capitalism, instilling false consciousness of bourgeoisie values. They agree that the cooperative instincts of human beings can be liberated by the removal of an exploitative capitalist system and the creation of a new socialist society. This is because under capitalism, workers are alienated from other human beings as they are made to compete with each other for employment and are made to feel foreign to the products of their labour. Marx and Engels as well as Rosa Luxembourg argued that revolution was necessary to abolish capitalism and that freed from it , moral and ethical incentives would replace natural economic incentives taking humans back to their cooperative and altruistic state.

Question 23

Revolutionary Socialism : Economy

Answer 23

Socialism seeks to rectify the problems caused by capitalism by championing an economy that provides for greater workers’ control in employment, and a significant redistribution of wealth and resources within the economy generally. Revolutionary socialists like Marx and Engels argued that capitalism was corrupt, inefficient and ultimately self-destructive. Under a capitalist economy, the ruling class took the surplus value of the workers, thereby exploiting them. Only by achieving class conciousness and overturning capitalism, via revolution, can workers hope to be free from economic exploitation. This capitalist economy should and will be replaced by an economy based on collective ownership. Economic collectivism could take multiple forms including extensive state regulation of capitalism,progressive public spending and state/common ownership which would make the economy more efficient and promote a more fraternal, co-operative society according to Marx and Engels.

Question 24

Revolutionary Socialism : Society

Answer 24

Marx argued that capitalist societies are sickeningly yet fatally defined by class interests and class conflict. According to revolutionary socialists, capitalism created two conflicted economic classes : the bourgeoisie or ruling class and the proletariat, who sold its labour to the bourgeoisie in return for wages. Within a capitalist society, the bourgeoisie would take the surplus value of labour from the proletarians, thereby exploiting them and creating harsh inequalities of wealth and power. Marx believed this would lead to capitalism’s destruction, as this would nurture resentful class conciousness among workers, who would eventually overthrow capitalism via revolution. In the wake of revolution, a new society would emerge that would reflect the interests of the new, economically dominant class - one they called the dictatorship of the proletariat. Once this society had cemented socialist values it would ‘wither away’ and be replaced by communism : a stateless society involving common ownership.

Question 25

Evolutionary Socialism : Human Nature

Answer 25

Beatrice Webb disagreed that revolution was necessary arguing that the economic and moral case for socialism would rationally persuade even existing parties to support socialist values. As an evolutionary socialist, she believed the damage inflicted by capitalism upon the human psyche would be compounded by revolution and that humans needed to be guided back gradually to its original, co-operative condition. Beatrice Webb argued that people had already shown their desire for collective action by establishing new co-operatives and so this would further the case for socialism, making it achievable to pass socialist policies through the ballot box.

Question 26

Evolutionary Socialism : State

Answer 26

Whilst Marx and Engels believed the state to be an irredeemable agent of the bourgeoisie ruling class, Webb viewed the state as a valuable mechanism that could be used to effect a gradual transition to socialism. In what she argued was the 'inevitability of gradualism', Webb believed that socialism could be established peacefully through existing parliamentary institutions, thereby rejecting revolution. They believed that democratic socialist parties would be elected, when the majority of voters (the working class) ,through peaceful campaigning, would realise they had no vested interest in capitalism. It is then that democratic socialist governments would enact the gradual replacement of private ownership with state ownership, producing a socialist society that is co-operative, fraternal and altruistic.

Question 27

Evolutionary Socialism : Society

Answer 27

The poverty and inequalities of a capitalist society continue to depress human potential while fostering regressive competition.

Question 28

Evolutionary Socialism : Economy

Answer 28

Beatrice Webb held the belief that a chaotic capitalist economy would gradually be replaced by one which secures for workers the full fruits of their labour based upon common ownership of the means of production. Webb believed the evils of capitalism could be solved by the 'professional expert'. The state would grow as a highly trained elite band of administrators organising and coordinating economy and society. This would see high taxation and more evenly distributed incomes. This would not be the absolute equality of revolutionary socialism, as there would still be wage differences, but the inequality that remained would be drastically diminished.

Question 29

Third Way : State

Answer 29

The existing liberal state should be improved, redistributing and decentralising political power while encouraging greater political participation. Giddens was more sceptical about the state's abilities, arguing that state intervention can have unintended 'counterproductive effects' such as breeding a dependency culture. Instead of a keynesian economy, Giddens argues for a 'market state' where government's regulative role in the economy is limited to creating the conditions to facilitate economic growth, as this has the greatest impact in improving living standards.

Question 30

Third Way : Human Nature

Answer 30

Anthony Giddens, though, believed that the abolition of capitalism was unnecessary and that the welfare state could influence human nature just as much as capitalism. As the middle ground alternative to socialism and free-market capitalism, the third-way supports increased funds for public services to support those who need it. Anthony Giddens argued that due to globalisation, capitalism had some benefits and that we should embrace it. This influenced new labour's approach, to provide a 'hand-up' not a 'hand-out' encouraging people to be more pro-active as well as it's focus on providing equality of opportunity through increased public spending in helathcare, education and welfare spending.

Question 31

Third Way : Economy

Answer 31

- should be neo-liberal, private and deregulated, claiming this will produce a greater tax yield and thus more public spending securing greater equality of opportunity - 'a hand up, not a hand out' : social investment state rather than a welfare state, where government focuses on investing in human capital to empower individuals as least as much in the provision of benefits and services. - Excessive taxation and regulation drives businesses elsewhere, state should champion entrepreneurship as the best way to grow the economy, through deregulation and competitive tax rates. Resulting tax could be spent on infrastructure and social inclusion to help all compete in the new, deindustrialised 'knowledge economy'

Question 32

Third Way : Society

Answer 32

Society has undergone embourgeoisement - egalitarianism must harness, rather than deny these forces.

Question 33

Revolutionary Socialism : Capitalism

Answer 33

Capitalism inherently exploitative, under this system, the bourgeoisie would seek to take the surplus value of the proletariat, as the only possible source of profit. Hence workers would through the emergence of class consciousness, realise their exploitation and rightly seek the overthrow of capitalism.

Question 34

Evolutionary Socialism : Capitalism

Answer 34

Seek to remove capitalism through the parliamentary process. Though she agreed that capitalism was damaging and inherently exploitative, she also agreed that revolution would further compound the human psyche. Socialism should be achieved through the ballot box.

Question 35

Social Democracy : Capitalism

Answer 35

Seeks to 'humanise' capitalism. The remnants of private ownership could generate tax revenue necessary for a widespread social welfare state.

Question 36

Third Way : Capitalism

Answer 36

Wholeheartedly embraced capitalism as a means for indivuals to prosper economically, and ensure economic efficiency. Advocated a social investment state, that provided a 'hand-up not a 'hand-out', people have to be proactive in relation to seeking employment in order to recieve such benefits.

Question 37

Views of Equality:

Answer 37

Equality of Outcome : Maintains that rewards should be based on an individual's contribution. Since this will vary from person to person some inequality will persist but differences in rewards will not be as marked as in the free market system. Absolute equality: Based on the notion that everyone will recieve the same rewards, providing they make a contribution to society. Over time, each person will make a broadly equal contribution. This approach is supported by Marxists as the basis of a communist society but rejected by social democrats and the third way as impractical and potentially destabilising. Equality of Welfare: Equality of welfare accepts that human society is inevitably unequal but also maintains that every individual is entitled to have an equal minimum standard of Iiving guaranteed state welfare provision.Equality of welfare is endorsed by social democrats and the Third Way because it provides a vital safety net for the most vulnerable in society Marxists reject it because this welfare provision does not seek to remove capitalism and its structural inequalities. Equality of Opportunity: Equality of opportunity is based on the principle that everyone should have an equal chance to make the best of their abilities. There should be a level playing feld with no artificial barriers to progress for those with ability, talent and a positive attitude to hard work.This approach is supported by social democrats and the Third Way on meritocratic grounds but rejected by Marxists because it does not seek to remove capitalism and its structural inequalities.

Question 38

Bourgeoisie:

Answer 38

The class in capitalism who own the means of production - take the surplus value created by the proletariat - the working class - as the only possible source of profit, since only labour creates new value.

Question 39

Proletariat:

Answer 39

The working class, as the only possible source of profit, since only labour creates new value .

Question 40

Alienation:

Answer 40

Marx maintains that under capitalism the conditions that would allow people to lead satisfying lives based on fulfilling work does not exist which leads to human alienation by separating people from their true selves.