Socialism+-+General

Socialism - General

Socialism : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.

Socialism is an economic system enforcing community and hard work. Socialists believe that human behaviour is shaped by the environment and that people should all be paid according to work done. A major concept of socialism is a lack of private property. The government has a strong hand in the economy, controlling natural resources and regulating the market through publicly owned enterprises. Because of the emphasis socialism places on public ownership, we can say that it is in opposition to capitalism. Socialism is a left wing system, putting the interests of the group as a whole above those of the individuals.

We see many principles of collectivism being used within socialism, some of which are:
 * cooperation
 * economic equality
 * public property

Socialism values cooperation over competition, with a strong belief that society will benefit more from giving the working class a profit from the work that they produce rather than exploiting them. There are many types of socialism, varying on issues such as the extent to which they rely on the markets versus a fully planned economy, the extent to which they want to change society and their belief of the role of the state.

Socialism opposes classical liberalism, classical liberalism is the belief that individuals should be free from government control in the economy whereas social liberalism belives that there should still be government control of the economy.

The branches of socialism can be found at Utopian Socialism, Scientific Socialism - Marxism, and Democratic Socialism - New Democratic Party.

The above cartoon illustrates the socialist belief that all men should take care of each other, and that money should be equally distributed. "Socialism." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 June 2012. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. []. "Socialism." //Merriam-Webster//. Merriam-Webster. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. []. Ball, Terence, and Richard Dagger. "Socialism." //Encyclopedia Britannica Online//. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. []. "Faith Facts." //Socialism Is Not Compassionate//. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. []. "Perspectives on Ideology." //Oxford University Press Canada//. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. [].
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