Types of socialism include a range of economic and social systems characterized by social ownership and democratic control of the means of production; ; and organizational self-management of enterprises, as well as the political theories and movements associated with socialism. As a term, socialism represents a broad range of theoretical and historical socioeconomic systems and has also been used by many political movements throughout history to describe themselves and their goals, thereby generating various varieties of socialism. In general, these varieties share a common element of social ownership, which refers to forms of public, collective, or cooperative ownership, or to citizen ownership of equity, in which surplus value is distributed among the working class and hence society as a whole. However, varieties of socialism differ in terms of attitudes toward economic regulatory systems, governmental structures, and revolutionary violence.
Socialist economic systems can be divided into market and non-market forms. The former utilizes markets to allocate inputs and capital goods among economic units. In the latter, planning is utilized along with a system of accounting based on calculation-in-kind to value resources and goods, wherein production is carried out directly for use.
There have been numerous political movements, such as anarchism, communism, the labour movement, Marxism, social democracy, and syndicalism, whose members called themselves socialists under some definition of the term. Some of these interpretations are mutually exclusive and all of them have generated debates over the true meaning of socialism. Different self-described socialists have used socialism to refer to different concepts, such as an economic system,; ; ; a type of society, a philosophical outlook, a collection of moral values and ideals, or a certain kind of human character.Boyle, James. "What is Socialism?", The Shakespeare Press, 1912. pp. 35. Boyle quotes Pierrerismo Joseph Proudhon as stating that socialism is "every aspiration towards the amelioration of society", and then admitting that, under this definition, "we are all socialists." Some definitions of socialism are very vague, while others are so specific that they include only a small minority of the things that have been described as socialism in the past, such as a mode of production, state socialism, or the abolition of wage labour.
Early interpretations The term socialism was coined in the 1830s and was first used to refer to philosophical, moral, or ethical beliefs concerning the promotion of broad social well-being, rather than any specific political views. Alexandre Vinet, who claimed to have been the first person to use the term, defined socialism simply as "the opposite of individualism".Cort, John C. "Christian socialism". Orbis Books, New York, 1988. pp. 355. Robert Owen also viewed socialism as a matter of ethics, though he defined the term more specifically than Vinet, referring to the view that human society can and should be improved for the benefit of all. In a similar vein, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon described socialism as "every aspiration towards the amelioration of society".Boyle, James. "What is Socialism?", The Shakespeare Press, 1912. pp. 35.
In the first half of the 19th century, many writers who described themselves as socialists—and who would be later called utopian socialists—wrote descriptions of what they believed to be the ideal human society. Some of them created small communities that put their ideals into practice. A constant feature of these ideal societies was social and economic equality. Because the people who proposed the creation of such societies called themselves socialists, the term socialism came to refer not only to a certain moral doctrine, but also to a type of egalitarian society based on such a doctrine.
Other early advocates of socialism took a more scientific approach by favouring social levelling to create a meritocratic society based upon freedom for individual talent to prosper. For example, Count Henri de Saint-Simon was fascinated by the enormous potential of science and technology and believed a socialist society would eliminate the disorderly aspects of capitalism. He advocated the creation of a society in which each person was ranked according to his or her capacities and rewarded according to his or her work. The key focus of this early socialism was on administrative efficiency and industrialism and a belief that science was the key to progress.Newman, Michael. (2005) Socialism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Simon's ideas provided a foundation for scientific economic planning and technocratic administration of society.
Other early socialist thinkers, such as Charles Hall and Thomas Hodgskin, based their ideas on David Ricardo's economic theories. They reasoned that the equilibrium value of commodities approximated prices charged by the producer when those commodities were in elastic supply, and that these producer prices corresponded to the cost of the labour—essentially the wages paid—that was required to produce the commodities. The Ricardian socialists viewed profit, interest, and rent as deductions from this exchange-value. These ideas embodied early conceptions of market socialism.
After the development of Karl Marx's theories, many socialist movements and writers adopted definitions of socialism centered on worker ownership or control of productive assets, either through state institutions, cooperatives, or other collective arrangements. In Marxist theory, socialism refers to a transitional stage between capitalism and communism characterized by coordinated production, collective ownership of productive assets, and the eventual reduction of class distinctions. Some other socialist traditions have defined socialism differently and do not necessarily share Marx's stage-based theory of historical development.
Differences between various schools
Although they share a common root, schools of socialism are divided on many issues, sometimes even internally. The following is a brief overview of the major issues which have generated significant controversy among socialists in general.
Theory Some branches of socialism arose largely as a philosophical construct (e.g. utopian socialism), while others arose in the course of a revolution (e.g. early Marxism or Leninism). A few arose as the product of a ruling party (e.g. Stalinism), others as the product of various worker movements (e.g. anarcho-syndicalism) or a party or other group contending for political power in a democratic society (e.g. social democracy).
Some are in favour of a socialist revolution (e.g. Maoism, Marxism–Leninism, revolutionary socialism, social anarchism and Trotskyism), while others tend to support reform instead (e.g. Fabianism and individualist anarchism).
All socialists criticize the current system in some way. Some criticisms centre on the ownership of the means of production (e.g. Marxism), whereas others tend to focus on the nature of mass and equitable distribution (e.g. most forms of utopian socialism). Most are opposed to unchecked industrialism as well as capitalism (e.g. green left) and believe that, under socialism, the environment must be protected. Utopian socialists such as Robert Owen and Henri de Saint-Simon argued that the injustice and widespread poverty of the societies they lived in were a problem of the distribution of the goods created. On the other hand, Marxian socialists argued that the primary source of economic injustice was the concentration of ownership of productive assets among a relatively small ownership class rather than the distribution of goods after production. Marxian socialists also maintain that the root of injustice is not in how commodities are distributed, but in whose economic benefit they are produced and sold.
Practice Most forms and derivatives of Marxism have advocated total or near-total socialization of the economy. Less radical schools (e.g. reformism and reformist Marxism) proposed a mixed market economy instead. Mixed economies can range from those developed by the social democratic governments that have periodically governed Northern and Western European countries to the inclusion of small cooperatives in the planned economy of Yugoslavia. A related issue is whether it is better to reform capitalism to create a fairer society (e.g. most social democrats) or to totally overthrow the capitalist system (all Marxists).
Some schools advocate centralized state control of the socialized sectors of the economy (e.g. Leninism), while others argue for control of those sectors by workers' councils (e.g. anarchist communism, council communism, left communism, Marxism or syndicalism). This question is usually referred to by socialists in terms of "ownership of the means of production". Most contemporary European social democratic parties do not advocate comprehensive ownership of the means of production and generally support mixed-market economic systems.
Another issue socialists are divided on is what legal and political apparatus workers would maintain in order to further develop the socialization of the means of production. Some advocate that the power of workers' councils should constitute the basis of a socialist state (coupled with direct democracy and the widespread use of referendums), while others hold that socialism entails the existence of a legislative body administered by people who would be elected in a representative democracy.
Different ideologies support different governments. During the era of the Soviet Union, Western socialists were divided as to whether the Soviet Union was actually socialist, moving toward socialism, or inherently non-socialist and inimical to true socialism. Today, the government of the People's Republic of China claims to be socialist and refers to its own approach as socialism with Chinese characteristics, but many other socialists consider modern China to be essentially capitalist. The Chinese leadership concurs with most of the usual critiques of a command economy, and many of their actions to manage what they call a socialist economy have been determined by this opinion.
Socialist planned economy
A socialist planned economy combines public ownership and management of the means of production with centralized state planning, and can refer to a broad range of economic systems from the centralized Soviet-style command economy to participatory planning via workplace democracy. In a centrally-planned economy, decisions regarding the quantity and allocation of goods and services to be produced are planned in advance by a planning agency. This type of economic system has often been combined with a one-party political system and is associated with the Communist states of the 20th century.
State-directed economy A state-directed economy is a system where either the state or worker cooperatives own the means of production, but economic activity is directed to some degree by a government agency through mechanisms such as indicative planning or dirigisme. This differs from a centralized planned economy, or a command economy, in that micro-economic decision making, such as quantity to be produced and output requirements, is left to managers and workers in state enterprises or cooperative enterprises rather than being mandated by a comprehensive economic plan. However, the state will plan long-term strategic investment and some aspects of production. It is possible for a state-directed economy to have elements of both a market and planned economy. For example, production and investment decisions may be semi-planned by the state, but distribution of output may be determined by the market mechanism.