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    Socialism Vs Capitalism

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    Socialism Vs Capitalism

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    Bxjxj Jxjdjx

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    socialism vs capitalism

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    Socialism Vs Capitalism

    Uploaded by

    fnrlgtanetipl
    Bxjxj Jxjdjx

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    Socialism is both an economic system and an ideology (in the non-

    pejorative sense of that term). A socialist economy features social rather


    than private ownership of the means of production. It also typically
    organizes economic activity through planning rather than market forces,
    and gears production towards needs satisfaction rather than profit
    accumulation. Socialist ideology asserts the moral and economic
    superiority of an economy with these features, especially as compared
    with capitalism. More specifically, socialists typically argue that
    capitalism undermines democracy, facilitates exploitation, distributes
    opportunities and resources unfairly, and vitiates community, stunting
    self-realization and human development. Socialism, by democratizing,
    humanizing, and rationalizing economic relations, largely eliminates
    these problems.
    Socialist ideology thus has both critical and constructive aspects.
    Critically, it provides an account of what’s wrong with capitalism;
    constructively, it provides a theory of how to transcend capitalism’s
    flaws, namely,by transcending capitalism itself, replacing capitalism’s
    central features (private property, markets, profits) with socialist
    alternatives (at a minimum social property, but typically planning and
    production for use as well).

    Capitalism is often thought of as an economic system in which private


    actors own and control property in accord with their interests, and
    demand and supply freely set prices in markets in a way that can serve
    the best interests of society.

    The essential feature of capitalism is the motive to make a profit. As


    Adam Smith, the 18th century philosopher and father of modern
    economics, said: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the
    brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to
    their own interest.” Both parties to a voluntary exchange transaction
    have their own interest in the outcome, but neither can obtain what he or
    she wants without addressing what the other wants. It is this rational
    self-interest that can lead to economic prosperity.

    In a capitalist economy, capital assets—such as factories, mines, and


    railroads—can be privately owned and controlled, labor is purchased for
    money wages, capital gains accrue to private owners, and prices
    allocate capital and labor between competing uses (see “Supply and
    Demand”).

    Although some form of capitalism is the basis for nearly all economies
    today, for much of the past century it was but one of two major
    approaches to economic organization. In the other, socialism, the state
    owns the means of production, and state-owned enterprises seek to
    maximize social good rather than profits.

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