what is socialism?

Question

what are the differences between it and capatilism-- are there any countries under a socialist government?

Answer 1

"Socialism is the belief that the next important step in progress is a change in man’s environment of an economic character that shall include the abolition of every privilege whereby the holder of wealth acquires an anti-social power to compel tribute." - Ben Tucker

http://fair-use.org/benjamin-tucker/instead-of-a-book/armies-that-overlap

For most supporters of socialism, "socialism" usually means that the workers control the means of production, while "capitalism" means another class controls the means of production.

Historically, supporters of socialism have varied from opponents of the state (like Proudhon or Bakunin) to supporters of it (like Engels), as well as from supporters of completely free markets (like Proudhon or Tucker) to supporters of planned economies (like Marx) to supporters of free access to common means of production (like Kropotkin).

Indeed, many socialists (e.g. most anarchists) regard markets where people own their own means of production (or have reasonable chances to do so) as forms of socialism, and states where the state owns the means of production (as in the Soviet Union) as capitalism, with the ruling party as the capitalists.

For many supporters of capitalism, "capitalism" means a free market and private control of the means of production, while "socialism" means a planned economy and state control of the means of production; some introduce another category, sometimes called "syndicalism," (which has more specific meanings for socialists) to describe stateless socialism.

I'd strongly suggest reading Ben Tucker's "State Socialism and Anarchism." It gives an insight into one extreme of the range of socialist thought: http://praxeology.net/BT-SSA.htm

Answer 2

Here's the real answer.
Socialism is a system where some or all the economy is controlled by the government, where some or all production and property is owned by the government. There is limited or no private enterprise or property ownership. The government provides all basic goods and services. There are many forms of socialism, ranging from communism, (Cuba) to European "progressive" (France, Canada). Fascism and Naziism are socialist systems. There are many, many socialist countries. Most countries are, in fact. Capitalism is a free economy marked by private ownership of property and business, in an economy that is free of government interference, or that limits it. Why don't you check wikipedia?

Answer 3

When the government manages various aspects of citizens' lives through social programs and all the various offices in government work together to maintain this level of government control over citizens' resources, and ability to acquire wealth.

Answer 4

this is a complicated word, it has a negative stigma

but i use it to mean to kelp the lower class using taxes from the upper class...

most countries do this

the wealth distribution, is the primary issue in most forms of govt

when the upper class gain all of the wealth and power the people revolt...

keeping the wealth from moving into the hands of the elite should be a primary concern

in america the top 5% has 60% to 80% of the wealth

that means the last 95% has 20 to 40% to compete over

social programs will help solve this problem


if we choose more social programs it also means the govt has more power over money and need to be policed by the people through active participation in the political process

choose, power to the wealthy or power to the govt represented by the people..


also know that the elite spend billions convincing simple people that socialism is bad for america, because it takes wealth and power from them,,,,

Answer 5

hartley8184's answer is very good.

Capitalism has an incentive aspect to it. People work for pay. GENERALY, the more they work or the higher the quality of their work, the more pay they receive.

Read Friedrich A. Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom"

The link is a quicky comic book version:

http://www.mises.org/books/TRTS/

The USSR failed due to internal pressures, just as Ronald Reagan predicted.

Answer 6

Ask Hillary Clinton.

Answer 7

Socialism -the wealth is concentrated in government.
Capitalism - the wealth is possessed by the rich families.