Article

Introduction to Socialism

Friday, 19 June 2026

government-and-politics paper-3 core-ideologies socialism

Socialism is a criticism of Capitalism. It is a response to the industrial revolution of the 19th century.

Socialists reject liberalism on the basis of two grounds:

  1. There is no natural right to private property (Marx/Rousseau)
  2. Individuals cannot be independent/autonomous in modern industrial society (Giddens)

Socialists do agree with liberals in their belief in reason (support enlightenment), the idea of foundation equality, rejection of monarchy and the aim of freeing humans from oppression.

Human Nature

  • Like liberals, socialists are optimistic - it is a progressive ideology
    • Socialists believe that humans are social by nature are prone to co-operation and altruism
  • Socialists also believe that humans are a product of their surrounding and that human nature is malleable (can be moulded/changed) (Webb)
  • Socialists believe Capitalism encourages greed and therefore is responsible for many problems in human behaviour
  • Socialism is therefore to create the conditions that allow for humans to reach their natural potential.

Info

Altruism is the idea of doing something for the benefit of someone else.

Society

Ideal Society

Socialists view an ideal society as a society in which one does not have capitalism. They see a capitalist society as a dystopian society.

View of Society

Liberals view society as a product of what individuals can achieve, whereas socialists view individuals as a product of society. They reject the liberal idea that individuals can mostly control their own destiny.

Note

This ties back to their view of humans being a product of their surroundings.

All socialists believe that economic factors (particularly capitalism and the distribution of property - “the means of production”, Marx) control how society is run, and therefore, capitalists believe that capitalism is inherently inequal.

Social Class

Socialists believe that the industrial revolution produced socio-economic classes. These would be unequal in terms of both finance and education.

As a result of this inequality in one generation typically leads to inequality in the next. To combat this, the equality of outcome is the aim of socialists to combat (and end) inequality of opportunity.