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socialism

Definition of Socialism

(noun) An economic system in which goods and services are produced and distributed via State planning and collective ownership of raw materials (commodities) and the means of production, with the intent to share wealth equally among members of a society.

Socialism Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: so·cial·ism

Audio Pronunciation

– American English
– British English

Phonetic Spelling

  • American English – /sOH-shuh-liz-uhm/
  • British English – /sOH-shuh-li-zuhm/

International Phonetic Alphabet

  • American English – /ˈsoʊʃəˌlɪz(ə)m/
  • British English – /ˈsəʊʃl̩ɪz(ə)m/

Usage Notes

Related Quotations

  • “Though Marx is often identified with the communist revolutions and social governments that appeared in many nations in the 20th century, Marx actually had little to say about communism or socialism. Marx was a utopian who centered his attention on capitalism and its internal dynamics, assuming that when socialism replaced capitalism many of world’s problems would disappear” (Hughes and Kroehler 2008:12).
  • “What does post-modernity ordinarily refer to? Apart from the general sense of living through a period of marked disparity from the past, the term usually means one or more of the following: that we have discovered that nothing can be known with any certainty, since all pre-existing ‘foundations’ of epistemology have been shown to be unreliable; that ‘history’ is devoid of teleology and consequently no version of ‘progress’ can plausibly be defended; and that a new social and political agenda has come into being with the increasing prominence of ecological concerns and perhaps new social movements generally. Scarcely anyone today seems to identify post-modernity with what it was once widely accepted to mean – the replacement of capitalism by socialism” (Giddens 1990:46).

Additional Information

Related Video

Related Terms


References

Giddens, Anthony. 1990. The Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Hughes, Michael, and Carolyn J. Kroehler. 2008. Sociology: The Core. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

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Cite the Definition of Socialism

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “socialism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved March 19, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/socialism/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

socialism. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/socialism/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “socialism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed March 19, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/socialism/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“socialism.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/socialism/>.