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Socialism

Socialism is an economic and political philosophy characterized by public or government ownership of property and goods.

635 Questions

How does socialism relate to the Robin Hood story?

The main tenant of Socialism is "fair and equitable distribution of wealth"; the idea that the amount of money a person earns should be directly connected to how much they contribute to the group, not their position within the group.

In the middle ages, the rich were rich by birth, and didn't have to work at all to maintain their wealth. The people who lived under their rule worked the land and paid taxes to the landowners. During the time of the Crusades (when the story of Robin Hood takes place) the taxes were high because they were raising armies and needed food, armor and weapons for the men. In the story of Robin Hood, though, Prince John kept the taxes inordinately high (the reason for which changes depending on the version of the story) while his brother, King Richard, was off fighting the Crusades. Robin Hood stole from the rich (i.e. Prince John) and gave that money back to the people who needed it (i.e. the peasants).

So Robin's idea of taking money away from the entitled rich and giving it to the poor as a means of creating a more equitable environment for the good of all falls directly in line with Socialist ideals.

Is the US headed to socialism?

Yes it can. The US already has a considerable amount of socialist policies now with institutions such as public libraries and public schools. There are many other democracies that are far more socialist. Democracy allows people to collectively govern a nation's resources, and communal ownership is the underlying principal of socialism.

What is the advantage and disadvantage of socialism?

Advantages--people's needs are a priority. Food, housing, education and health are paramount in a socialist society. You would not have million dollar mansions subsidized and lying vacant while homeless people abound. If you are poor you can get required medical treatment. Education is free and available to all.

Disadvantages--Corporations and rich people are not the priority in a socialist country; they would pay a considerable tax so that the above advantages can be realized. You could not develop a piece of land in opposition to people's wishes in the community. If you have resources you are expected to pitch in for the less fortunate. Taxes will be higher. Corporations would be subject to democratic control.

The above is an idealization; the practice in reality probably varies.

What is the primary criticism leveled against socialism?

The biggest criticism of socialism is that there is little to no incentive to do anything. Another major criticism is that it ultimately leads to communism. The third major criticism is that it gives governments too much power.

What sorts of changes did the utopian socialists advocate?

Utopian socialists often advocated a visionary, ideal community. Many advocated free love and open family relationships and questioned the structures and values of the existing capitalistic framework. Some such Count Claude Henri de Saint-Simon advocated rational management in which private wealth, property, and enterprise was subject to an administration, not its owners. They believed that this management of wealth (not redistribution) would alleviate the poverty and social dislocation prevalent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many others such as Robert Owen advocated enlightened management and a humane industrial environment because he believed that if human beings were placed in the correct environment, they and their character would improve. Still others such as Charles Fourier believed that human passion was ignored in the industrial order. As a result, he advocated phalanxes, communities which would replace the boredom and dullness found in industrial existence with liberated living. Here, people would never do the same work for an entire day, eliminating the problem of boredom. He also advocated an agrarian rather than industrial production and that marriage was reserved for later in life. Some utopian socialists such as Louis Blanc also advocated for an end to competition but did not seek to build a completely new society. Instead, they were more concerned with politics and advocated for political reform to give the vote to the working class, who would use the vote to their own economic advantage in the political processes.

Karl Marx supported socialism true or false?

No. He viewed what he called "utopian socialism" as too idealistic and impractical. He proposed scientific socialism instead, because he believed that socialism was the scientifically proven next stage of human economic development.

Is UK a socialist country?

Britain is supposedly a social democracy. Regarding the welfare state, equal opportunities, etc, it can be argued that there are many elements of Socialism in Britain. Many core socialist values are economic and Britain is economically capitalist. Most British people are centre-left. To compare this with the US: the British right wing is the US left wing. British people overwhelmingly support free national healthcare, equal opportunities, a hugely funded state education system, open government yet also tend to support the economic free market. Britain is not socialist, but it is a social democracy.

What did Karl Marx mean by socialism?

Socialism means very different things depending on who you ask.

Socialism itself, in its very basics, is an economic theory in which people have a more even spread of money between all of a nation's citizens than what one generally has in a capitalism. It's supposed to be a transitional period between capitalism and communism in Karl Marx's theory of societal progression, where people are not necessarily equal yet in what they have, but they have equal opportunity and can get help from the wealthy when they are poor because they are down on their luck.

It's hard to delve too far into the topic without being one-sided. There are good things and bad things about every economic theory--capitalism, socialism, communism, even mercantilism--but descriptions of each tend to float towards making one sound much better than another.

In the United States of America, when people, usually people who identify with the conservative or Republican ideologies, talk about socialism, they often mean when the central government decides to use their tax income from the citizens to support welfare projects which help the poor get back on their feet. People who support this use of taxpayer money say that it is more fair; people who are against this use of taxpayer money say that often poor people are lazy or will become lazy if they know that they will be supported by the government when they do not work.

How did Bismark view socialist ideals?

Otto von Bismarck did not believe in socialism as he saw it as oppressive to the hardworking people. This is one of the reasons that he did campaign against it.

What is the difference between capitalization and privatization?

Privatization has to do with who ownes something, Government or Private sector.

Capitalization has to do which where the money is coming form to buy it.

This is just my own view. Someone else may have a better answer.

The father of modern socialism is?

Karl MarxMarx believed that capitalism would be replaced by socialism which in turn would bring upon communism. He was the author of "The Communist Manifesto" and was well known for being the father of communism.

See Web Links for much more information on Karl Marx

AnswerKarl Marx

I believe the question is not clear. Truly Karl Marx with the assistance of Friedrich Engels is the father of communism. There were various "socialist" groups during the time period of Marx. Thus the question should be "Who was the father of communism".

What did socialism grow out of?

Modern Socialism can be traced to the works of Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels. However, they were hardly the first folks to talk about the central concepts of socalism: the common ownership of property by society as a whole.

During the 1800s, the rise of socialism mainly fell under the banner of what was then known as The Progressive movement, which was primarily an agrarian counter to the Industrial Revolution.

The attractiveness of the socialist philosophy in the late 1800s can be seen as a reaction to the abuses of unregulated Capitalism during the rapid Industrialization of most Western countries. During this period, practically all North American and European countries underwent a dramatic change, from a society dominated by farmers and merchants, to one where industrial workers, industrial owners, and financiers formed the vast majority of the population (and who then held the majority of political power).

During this period of rapid Industrialization, farmers lost most of their former influence, and the new industrial worker class often felt powerless and helpless in the face of the new financier and corporate owner class. Socialism was a very attractive philosophy for those disenfranchized and marginalized groups, as it promised a system where they had the power, and not the industrialists/financiers.

Do be careful, though. Modern Socialism and Modern Communism are radically different that the Progressive and early Socialist movements, and it is very hard to compare current Socialism and Communist thought/philosophy with that prevalant in the 1800s.

Did anarchists only oppose socialism?

Anarchists were socialists and still consider themselves to be socialists.

Anarchists opposed what is today called "state socialism", meaning any type of socialism that advocates for state ownership of the means of production as a form of social ownership.

Liberals, conservatives, fascists and monarchists generally opposed socialism.

What was the main purpose of the Socialist movement?

to keep the power in the hands of the politicians

to protect the rights of the workers

How does socialism solve economic problem?

By doing away with the economy and having a system based on production for use, with free access and no money or prices.

What beliefs did Utopian socialists and communists have in common?

The capitalist systems has failed the majority of people in industrial societies

How can Senator Bernie Sanders be labeled as a democratic socialist when he has not advocated any industries in the US to be nationalized?

That's the difference between socialism and democratic socialism. Ever since Obama's election, the term "socialism" has been thrown around and used much too loosely, resulting in any kind of socialist policy to be labeled as socialism. Democratic socialism (even though Bernie is more of a social democrat) is a centrist idea with a small allowance of leftist policy, such as socialized health care and education. In short, democratic socialism is primarily capitalist with little snippets of socialist policy, and is entirely different from socialism.

Do capitalist countries have more crime than socialist countries?

On average, yes, capitalist countries have more crime, but this is correlation not causation. The reasons that capitalist countries typically have more crime is that fewer of them are police states and more of them have less restrictive gun laws. The monetary policies of capitalism or socialism have no effect on crime.

Who invented socialism?

It’s not clear that anyone ‘invented’ Socialism.

What is socialism about?

Socialism is on the extreme left of the political spectrum. It puts almost all of the power into the government. Opposite of that is fascism. Which puts all of the power in corporations.

Socialism--> Liberalism--> Centrist <--Conservatism <--Fascism

What is the difference between welfarism and socialism?

Socialism is a classless stateless society based on production for use, with no money or rulers. Welfarism means capitalism with a welfare state, intended to remove some of the worst features of a society based on inequality and exploitation.

What countries are examples of socialist countries with healt care and communications are owned by the government?

Almost all modern first-world powers have healthcare owned by the government with the USA being the only example of a country without it. Some of these countries include: France, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and almost all western european countries excluding England.