ContrarianLemming
14th August 2010, 09:15
I wrote this just now for wikianswers, (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What%27s_the_difference_between_capitalism_and_soc ialism&updated=1&waNoAnsSet=2) I was wondering whether or not everyone is in full agreement with me. It's such a basic point but I have never even checked if we all agreed on it.
I tried to be unbiased, but all my examples sorta suggest a left slant, but by god you should have seen the answer that was there before I edited! It actually said Norway was socialist
Capitalism is an economic arrangement where the means of production are owned privately by individuals, whereby workers are hired to work the means of production while the capitalist sells there product while taking a certain amount of the profit as income or to invest and grow the company, this is considered non labour income
Capitalism can be either market (neo liberalism) or non market (fascism), it can be centralised (corporatism) or decentralised (anarcho-capitalism). It can be regulated or non regulated, thus we see the defining characteristics of capitalism are private ownership, non labour income - though surplus value, which is the difference between a workers income and what his/her wages are - and profit.
Socialism on the other hand is often has works through communal ownership (Syndicalism, stateless communism) or state ownership (Chinese Socialism) of the means of production, though these are not defining points, rather it is the position workers are in, in capitalism, the worker must live off the capitalist by selling themselves for a certain amount of hours ("wage slavery") to a capitalist, though in socialism the workers control the means production.
This means the most distinct difference between capitalism and socialism is is based around who controls the means of production - workers or capitalists?
This is why certain socialists (mutualism) consider certain forms of private property economics to be socialist, such as Individualist anarchists, who - though they support private property - consider themselves socialists because the workers both control and own there workplace (a worker co-operative), as opposed to the state or the public.
Thus we see that instead of socialism being state control, or no market, it is in fact considered by it's proponents to be worker control and self management (autogestion) while capitalism, instead of being defined by the free market and competition, is in fact more accurately defined as private ownership coupled with non labour income through profit (or "usury"), also taking the forms of rent and interest.
This also means that despite popular claims, the social democracies of Scandinavia are in fact capitalist, while the former Soviet Union was not socialist.
I tried to be unbiased, but all my examples sorta suggest a left slant, but by god you should have seen the answer that was there before I edited! It actually said Norway was socialist
Capitalism is an economic arrangement where the means of production are owned privately by individuals, whereby workers are hired to work the means of production while the capitalist sells there product while taking a certain amount of the profit as income or to invest and grow the company, this is considered non labour income
Capitalism can be either market (neo liberalism) or non market (fascism), it can be centralised (corporatism) or decentralised (anarcho-capitalism). It can be regulated or non regulated, thus we see the defining characteristics of capitalism are private ownership, non labour income - though surplus value, which is the difference between a workers income and what his/her wages are - and profit.
Socialism on the other hand is often has works through communal ownership (Syndicalism, stateless communism) or state ownership (Chinese Socialism) of the means of production, though these are not defining points, rather it is the position workers are in, in capitalism, the worker must live off the capitalist by selling themselves for a certain amount of hours ("wage slavery") to a capitalist, though in socialism the workers control the means production.
This means the most distinct difference between capitalism and socialism is is based around who controls the means of production - workers or capitalists?
This is why certain socialists (mutualism) consider certain forms of private property economics to be socialist, such as Individualist anarchists, who - though they support private property - consider themselves socialists because the workers both control and own there workplace (a worker co-operative), as opposed to the state or the public.
Thus we see that instead of socialism being state control, or no market, it is in fact considered by it's proponents to be worker control and self management (autogestion) while capitalism, instead of being defined by the free market and competition, is in fact more accurately defined as private ownership coupled with non labour income through profit (or "usury"), also taking the forms of rent and interest.
This also means that despite popular claims, the social democracies of Scandinavia are in fact capitalist, while the former Soviet Union was not socialist.