Quote: "Socialism is a political philosophy and movement encompassing a wide range of economic and social systems which are characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership."
An economic system in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state or by collective groups of workers.
Marxism: The theory of socialism developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, which emphasizes the importance of the working class in society and the need for a revolution to overthrow capitalism.
Capitalism: The economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production, in which goods and services are produced and distributed for profit.
Means of production: The resources, tools, and facilities used to produce goods and services in an economy.
Class struggle: The conflict between the working class and the ruling class in a capitalist society.
Bourgeoisie: The capitalist class who own and control the means of production.
Proletariat: The working class who do not own the means of production and sell their labor to survive.
Surplus value: The difference between the value of the goods and services produced by workers and the wages they are paid, which is kept as profit by the owners of the means of production.
Historical materialism: The idea that the economic system of a society determines its social and political structure.
Social ownership: The idea that the means of production should be owned and controlled collectively by society rather than privately by individuals or corporations.
Social justice: The idea that everyone should have equal access to the benefits and rewards of society.
Income inequality: The unequal distribution of income and wealth in a society.
Public goods: Goods and services that are provided by the government for the benefit of everyone, such as education, healthcare, and public transportation.
Market socialism: A form of socialism in which the means of production are collectively owned and controlled, but goods and services are still exchanged in a market economy.
Democratic socialism: A form of socialism that emphasizes democracy as a means of achieving socialism, with workers and communities having a say in the decisions that affect their lives.
Central planning: The process of directing economic activity through a centralized authority, such as a government or a planning commission.
Mixed economy: An economic system that combines elements of socialism and capitalism, with public and private ownership of the means of production.
International socialism: The idea of socialist cooperation and solidarity across national boundaries, with the ultimate goal of a world without capitalism.
Revolution: The violent or nonviolent overthrow of an existing social, economic, or political system, often seen as a necessary step toward achieving socialism.
Dialectical materialism: The method of analyzing the contradictions and conflicts in society, developed by Marx and Engels, that leads to the development of new social systems.
Socialism in practice: Examples of attempts to implement socialist policies and systems in different countries throughout history, including the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and Venezuela.
Democratic Socialism: This type of socialism advocates for a socialist economic system within a democratic political system. It often emphasizes the importance of social justice, public ownership of certain industries, and the provision of social welfare programs.
Marxist Socialism: This type of socialism is based on the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It advocates for the abolition of private property and a worker-controlled economy where the means of production are owned and managed by the workers.
Leninist Socialism: This type of socialism is based on the ideas of Vladimir Lenin. It emphasizes the need for a revolutionary vanguard party to seize political power through a socialist revolution and establish a dictatorship of the proletariat.
Syndicalism: This type of socialism emphasizes the importance of labor unions as the basis of a socialist society. It advocates for the transfer of ownership and management of industries to the labor unions.
Anarcho-Syndicalism: This type of socialism is a form of anarchism that emphasizes the importance of labor unions as the basis of a socialist society. It advocates for the abolition of the state and capitalism, and for the establishment of a society based on worker self-management.
Utopian Socialism: This type of socialism emphasizes the creation of idealistic, egalitarian societies through peaceful means. It is based on the idea that a perfect society can be achieved through cooperation, voluntary association, and the elimination of class differences.
Christian Socialism: This type of socialism is based on Christian ethics and principles. It emphasizes the importance of social justice and the elimination of poverty, and promotes the idea that socialism is consistent with Christian teachings.
Eco-Socialism: This type of socialism emphasizes the need to address ecological issues and promote sustainability as part of a socialist economic system. It argues that capitalism is inherently unsustainable and destructive to the environment.
Quote: "Social ownership is the one common element, and is considered left-wing."
Quote: "Social ownership can be public, community, collective, cooperative, or employee."
Quote: "Different types of socialism vary based on the role of markets and planning in resource allocation, on the structure of management in organizations, and from below or from above approaches, with some socialists favouring a party, state, or technocratic-driven approach."
Quote (Non-market socialism): "Non-market socialism substitutes factor markets and often money with integrated economic planning and engineering or technical criteria based on calculation performed in-kind." Quote (Market socialism): "Market socialism retains the use of monetary prices, factor markets, and in some cases, the profit motive, with respect to the operation of socially owned enterprises and the allocation of capital goods between them."
Quote: "Anarchism and libertarian socialism oppose the use of the state as a means to establish socialism, favouring decentralisation above all, whether to establish non-market socialism or market socialism."
Quote: "Socialist parties and ideas remain a political force with varying degrees of power and influence on all continents, heading national governments in many countries around the world."
Quote: "Social democracy originated within the socialist movement, supporting economic and social interventions to promote social justice. While retaining socialism as a long-term goal, since the post-war period it came to embrace a mixed economy based on Keynesianism within a predominantly developed capitalist market economy and liberal democratic polity that expands state intervention to include income redistribution, regulation, and a welfare state."
Quote: "Economic democracy proposes a sort of market socialism, with more democratic control of companies, currencies, investments, and natural resources."
Quote: "The socialist political movement includes a set of political philosophies that originated in the revolutionary movements of the mid-to-late 18th century and out of concern for the social problems that socialists associated with capitalism."
Quote: "By the late 19th century, after the work of Karl Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels, socialism had come to signify anti-capitalism and advocacy for a post-capitalist system based on some form of social ownership of the means of production."
Quote: "By the early 1920s, communism and social democracy had become the two dominant political tendencies within the international socialist movement, with socialism itself becoming the most influential secular movement of the 20th century."
Quote: "While the emergence of the Soviet Union as the world's first nominally socialist state led to socialism's widespread association with the Soviet economic model, several scholars posit that in practice, the model functioned as a form of state capitalism."
Quote: "Several academics, political commentators, and scholars have noted that some Western countries, such as France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, have been governed by socialist parties or have mixed economies sometimes referred to as 'democratic socialist'."
Quote: "Following the end of the Cold War and the revolutions of 1989, many of these countries have moved away from socialism as a neoliberal consensus replaced the social democratic consensus in the advanced capitalist world."
Quote: "Many former socialist politicians and political parties embraced 'Third Way' politics, remaining committed to equality and welfare while abandoning public ownership and class-based politics."
Quote: "Socialism experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 2010s, most prominently in the form of democratic socialism."
Quote: "Many socialists also adopted the causes of other social movements, such as feminism, environmentalism, and progressivism."
Quote: "A non-market socialist system seeks to eliminate the perceived inefficiencies, irrationalities, unpredictability, and crises that socialists traditionally associate with capital accumulation and the profit system in capitalism."
Quote: "Socialists disagree on whether government, particularly existing government, is the correct vehicle for change."