what is the salient features of socialism?
440233
Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. This control may be either direct, exercised through popular collectives such as workers' councils, or it may be indirect, exercised through a State. In the latter case, the issue of who controls the state is crucial. A primary concern of socialism (and, according to some, its defining feature) is social equality and an equitable distribution of wealth that would serve the interests of society as a whole.[1][2]\n\nHistorically, the ideology of socialism arose with the rise of organized labor, and the socialist political movement has found most of its support among the urban working class and, to a lesser extent, the peasantry. This has led to socialism being strongly associated with the working class and often identifying itself with the interests of workers and the "common people". In many parts of the world, the two are still strongly associated with one another; in other parts, they have become two distinct movements.\n\nPure socialists hold that capitalism is an illegitimate economic system that serves the interests of the wealthy and exploits the majority of the population. As such, they wish to replace it completely or at least make substantial modifications to it, in order to create a more just society that would reward hard work, guarantee a certain basic standard of living, and extend economic and cultural opportunities to all.[3]\n\nSocialist theory is diverse, and there is no single body of thought that is universally shared by all socialists. Rather, different socialist ideologies have arrived at similar conclusions by different paths. There are some common themes, however. One such theme is the idea that humans are inherently social beings that require social interaction and the companionship of others in order to survive and develop both physically and mentally[4]. Individuals cannot maintain their humanity if they are separated from the rest of society for too long. Thus, socialists believe that the individual and society are inseparable, and they reject individualistic schools of thought which assert that society is the voluntary creation of individuals who chose to interact with each other.[5]\n\nMarxism is an ideology which has had a powerful influence on socialist thought. For over 50 years, from the Russian Revolution of 1917 to the 1970s, the majority of socialists were Marxists of one kind or another. This has not been the case for several decades, but Marxist ideas - particularly notions of class struggle - are common themes across a broad range of modern socialist groups. Marxism itself continues to be a strong current in the broader socialist movement.\n\nMany Marxists, past and present, use the term socialism to refer to the form of society that is supposed to replace capitalism and later develop into communism.\n\nWithin the socialist movement, there are several different ideas on how to create a socialist society and economic system, and what form this society will take. As a result, the movement has split into several different and sometimes opposing branches, which are discussed further below.
951857
Technology.  Just look at Russia to see why socialism is a horrific idea.  A generation living under the government of the USSR has created an entire country of people with entitlement minds.  Since coming out from that government, they have no work ethic, and that is why you see all the dilapidated buildings that there are in Russia.
937006
the libral agenda grew faster their.  socialism takes root in republics. the avg time throughout history is 200 years.  how we have lasted this long is amazing to me.
199777
they are socialist democratic. it looks like capitalism has the best of them nowadays
410211
Socialism is completely unrelated to totalitarianism. The same goes for communism. The terms socialist and communist refer primary to economic systems, not political systems.\n\nSo you could have a "totalitarian communist state" (like the USSR) or a "totalitarian capitalist state" (like Mussolini's Italy).\n\nYou definitely CAN implement socialism under a free, democratic government. Most countries in Europe are at least semi-socialistic. In Canada there is "socialized medicine." In fact, the US embraces a lot of aspects of socialism. Entitlement programs like welfare, unemployment, Medicare/Medicaid, and social security are all socialist policies.\n\nA truly socialist government gauruntees its citizens basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, and health care, are met.
170424
I am talking in a economical sense. Politcally I do not how to answer your question. True communism requires equally distribution of capital. Socialism does not. Both have high levels of government ownership of industry.
346386
Socialism should be used very little and very carefully,it tends to reduce things to their lowest common denominator.
982355
Communism is just a more extreme version of socialism.\n\nSocialist countries can have an element of democracy, the US, UK, France, Germany etc have socialist aspects.\n\nFor example, welfare, government subsidized healthcare, etc...\nbut still has capitalistic aspects where individuals own business and land.  The people vote on their leaders, ie democracy.\n\nCommunism on the other hand, usually involves total central planning, and is frequently controlled by dictators or a small group of people.  They decide what companies produce what.  They decide everything that will be done in the country.  They usually put down internal dissent with violence.  Communist countries are like North Korea, China prior to 2000 (still semi communist), the USSR before it collapsed.
682723
In theory, an economy, or economic system, that is a transition between capitalism and communism and is based on: (1) government, rather than individual, ownership of resources, (2) worker control of the government, such that workers, rather than capitalist, control capital and other productive resources, (3) income allocated on need rather than on resource ownership or contribution to production. In practice, socialism is a type of economy based on--(1) government ownership and control of the most crucial resources, like those for energy production, communication, transportation, and health care and (2) a heavy dose of central planning by government. \nAlthough socialism represents the theoretical transition from capitalism to communism, the primary goals of modern real world socialism are: (1) to correct the inefficiencies of market failures, (2) to obtain more equal wealth and income distributions, and (3) to equalize economic opportunities. To accomplish these goals, government exerts a significant amount of government control, while less than communism, more than capitalism.\nPerhaps more so than other economic systems, socialism comes in many different varieties. Some nations practice a form of socialism that comes very close to communism, with extensive government control. Socialism found in other nations has a distinctive capitalistic flavor, with a great deal of market activity.\n\nGovernment Ownership and Control\nA distinguishing characteristic of socialism is government ownership and control over key industries and resources. Government ownership and control generally begins with transportation, energy, and communication. Socialist governments generally view these industries and their associated resources as the ones most likely abused by private ownership.\nMore active socialist governments tend to exert greater control over other industries, such as health care, heavy manufacturing (such as steel production), and agricultural production. In the extreme, everything is owned and controlled by government, resulting in communism.\n\nCentral Planning\nGovernment ownership of resources and control of industries under socialism necessitates control of allocation decisions. This is often accomplished through central planning. While less extensive than found in communism, detailed plans are needed to allocate resources in the absence of market exchanges. And while such planning generally lacks the efficiency incentives found in markets, it can improve the efficiency if the markets would otherwise fall victim to failures.\nFor example, transportation systems are usually owned and controlled by governments under socialism due to the possible market failure of market control, especially the emergence of natural monopoly. \n\nA Mixed Economy\nSocialism occupies a large section of the spectrum of economic systems, bounded by a pure market economy on one end and a pure command economy on the other. Socialism tends to lay closer to the pure command economy of the spectrum, but it can also edge toward the pure market economy side dominated by capitalism.\nSocialism, like all other real world economic systems, is thus a mixed economy. Allocation decisions are undertaken by both governments and markets. Some socialistic nations rely more on governments and less on markets, while others rely a little more on markets and a little less on governments. But all rely on both to some degree.\n\nThe Politics of Socialism\nThe concept of socialism dates back almost to the beginnings of philosophical thought into the human prospect. Socialistic principles, for example, can be found in the works of Plato and the New Testament of the Christian Bible.\nOver the centuries socialism has been as closely aligned with political thinking as with economic analysis. It has formed the foundation of numerous political parties and helped inspire scores of revolutions. On the spectrum of political thinking, socialism is more likely embraced by liberals and
46057
World Peace\nEradication of poverty\nLiteracy for all people
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com·mu·nism    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (kmy-nzm)\nn. \nA theoretical economic system characterized by the collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members. \nCommunism\nA system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people. \nThe Marxist-Leninist version of Communist doctrine that advocates the overthrow of capitalism by the revolution of the proletariat.
335672
History has proven pure communism or socialism doesn’t work. Humans are free thinkers and eventually demand access to individual freedoms and rights. History has also proven pure democracy and capitalism doesn’t work either.\n\nThe answer is a balance between the two. In a perfect society there would be enough social programs to support the poor, sick, and needy while providing opportunity for those “go getters” who wish to pursues wealth and success.
561151
Socialism is a complete failure. Look at all the places socialism has been tried, you can't find a single one that worked.\n\nSocialism is a disease, it causes mediocrity and loss of drive. When everyone is given to equally, there is no reason to work harder. There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If you can do nothing and make the same amount as someone who works very hard... why work hard?\n\nSure, it might be nice if everyone had wonderful free health-care, but it doesn't work. Look at Britain and Canada. Both have socialized health care, and both systems are failing miserably. In Britain, those who can afford it pay for better health care because the system is so poor.\n\nNot to mention, that socialism does not provide equally for everybody. It provides poorly for everyone other than those in power. Compare the living conditions of the typical Russian to those of the ruling party... or the conditions of those starving in North Korea to those of the leaders of the Party there...\n\nCheers :)
165304
Share w them what u have learnt. \n\nTell them communism is utopian.\n\nTell them socialism is somewhere between communism and capitalism. It promotes REAL democracy, save the environment, doesn't need people to work like a dog... etc./
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Communism, Socialism... I dunno, you pick :)
119324
Socialist thought grew out of alarm at the new institution of wage labor which came along with industrialization (in the craftsman era, workers controlled the means of production and were not subordinate to owners).  Early socialist thought focuses on replacing wage labor with either workers cooperatives (most early socialist thinkers) or nationalization (a few).\n\nKarl Marx found early socialist thought to be politically naive and with a shallow understanding of capitalism and the larger forces of history.  He declared his own analysis to be "scientific".\n\nEconomically, Marx argued that politics is the struggle of classes to design rules and institutions that serve their economic interests and that as an economy modernizes old institutional relations become barriers to further development.  In the more technical parts of Das Kapital, he tried to explain the process of wage determination (via the now antiquated and discredited labor theory of value), the price system, structural change in the economy, the process of capital accumulation and growth, the effects of technological change, the business cycle and periodic and supposedly intensifying crises of overproduction.  He argued that capitalism would polarize wealth and tend towards monopoly (or oligopoly).\n\nPolitically, Marx advocated that trade unions merge into large units and serve as the basis for a labor-based political party, that this party should seek to win control of parliaments democratically (Marx wrongly assumed this would be easy, even automatic given their numbers and the false assumption of homogeniety of interest), and begin socializing the means of production,with markets present for long to come.  In early writings, Marx called for gradual nationalization of firms (through peaceful buyouts if possible), but later in his life he instead preferred the establishment of networks of worker's cooperatives, which he assumed would prosper under a labor government.  \n\nContrary to widespread misinformation, Marx did not believe a country NECESSARILY had to develop a mature capitalist economy before making a transition to socialism.  Given the situation in various countries, the process could start very early if a labor or even peasant party could control the parliament.  Freedoms of speech and organization were regarded as the lifeblood of labor parties' rise.\n\nIn short, Marx's political ideas were very far removed from the reactionary positions of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc, which is not to say he was right, just not properly associated with that political tradition.
877078
Yes it's only a slight difference... In Asia communism is the chief underlying political movement... In the US, socialism is the primary force guiding the leftist - moving government we have had now for over 12 years.