Socialism The Means Of Production example essay topic

Capitalism if explained in brief means private ownership of the means of production. Private ownership means that individuals control their own persons, their own energies, and the products of their energies. It prevails to the extent that individuals do not restrain or interfere with one another as they use, exchange (sell) or give away what they find unclaimed or abandoned, what they make, and what they get from other persons by gift or exchange (purchase). Capitalism has its origins, therefore, in individual freedom and in all of the ideas, sentiments and modes of conduct that establish this freedom.

Freedom implies that individuals do not coerce, intimidate or cheat one another. This means that they do not use violence or fraud to injure one another or to deprive one another of possessions obtained by peaceful means, and that they do not threaten to injure one another in their persons or properties. This freedom develops as individuals learn that, over a period of time, they gain more from cooperation motivated by hope of reward than they do from services performed under threat of violence. In other words, they gain more in the long run by production and exchange of goods and services than they can get by stealing, fraud, banditry or other forms of predation.

In short, capitalism arises as individuals (a) learn the advantages of division of labor and voluntary exchange, and (b) discover and live by the moral laws (rules of conduct) necessary for peaceful relations, one with another. This progress requires growing understanding of the nature of man and the meaning of justice, together with appreciation for honor, truth, and goodwill toward more and more of their fellow humans. The elements of moral law are set forth in what Judeo-Christians refer to as the "Ten Commandments" and the "Golden Rule". The negative form of the Golden Rule expresses the first principle: "Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you".

This restrains and casts out forced sharing, which is a form of enslavement. Insofar as individuals cease to steal from one another, cease to cheat (lie), cease to coerce or intimidate one another, and keep their agreements (including those establishing the monogamous family), they gain freedom. But this freedom develops only gradually with increasing understanding and self-restraint. No "man on a white horse", no dictator or government can give it to us. Individuals must learn to understand it, accept its responsibilities, and teach it to oncoming generations.

Capitalism can exist only if four conditions are met: 1) Production. In order for the capitalism to exist a reasonable level of production has to exist. Based on other personal freedoms mentioned earlier, people are not forced to produce certain goods by the government, yet rather they are motivated by personal profit (that will be discussed shortly). Production, economic expansion, multinational corporations are the usual signs of capitalism.

2) Personal profit. As it was said the major moving force in capitalism is the accumulation of wealth. Personal profit is the selfish explanation of the human acts people do on a regular basis. The desire to create wealth pushes people to produce goods and sell them to the others and, thus, accumulate wealth. When it becomes easy to earn money in producing certain things, more people freely start to produce them, and the third element of capitalism, competition, emerges.

3) Competition. Whenever there is more than one person produces the same goods in an attempt to get more personal profit, there arises a fight for the buck. In a desire to have more personal wealth people attempt to present their goods in a manner that attracts more clients. It can be done by the means of superior quality, larger size (value for dollar), good service, or advertisement. Yet, because the desire to become rich oftentimes blinds people and makes them oftentimes act in a manner that would deceive the clients, harm the competitors or disrupt the economy, the capitalist government occasionally makes interferences in the competition of the firms. And it is discussed next.

Government policy of laissez-faire. If the government does all the planning and ultimate control over the firms, than there cannot exist enough freedom, and technically it would mean that the firm owners are not owners but at least the co-owners with the government-that would not be capitalism. "Laissez Faire" is French for "leave alone" which means that the government leaves the people alone regarding all economic activities. It is the separation of economy and state. There are two ways that a government typically is tempted to interfere with the economy. The first is through the initiation of force, and the second is through socialized industries.

Neither of these activities is aligned with the proper role of government, and is both unacceptable. "Laissez Faire Capitalism" is actually redundant, due to the nature of Capitalism. Therefore, simply "Capitalism" is sufficient to get the point across although historically it has been misrepresented as compatible with government economic interference. The role of the government under laissez-faire is confined to 3 roles: providing infrastructure (building roads etc. ), maintaining domestic security (support the Army, create environmental safety requirements), and judicial system (to make the firms commit to their agreements). Socialism Socialism as a political movement was very much a response to the consequences of industrialization.

Liberalism and capitalism emerged in socialist argument as Janus-faced villains, defending a conception of political and economic freedom which effectively perpetuated the subordination of the working classes. Socialists might not agree about precisely what was wrong with the status quo; nor could they necessarily agree on a common program for the future. But there was a general consensus in socialist circles that the ideals of the French Revolution liberty, equality, fraternity - could not be attained in a political system built upon an individualist foundation. What transformed socialism into a deadly threat to the liberal order was the supposition that meaningful change could not be achieved within the confines of a capitalist system. Revolutionary socialists vested their hopes for the future in the dawning political awareness of the working class. In their view, capitalism had created, along with unparalleled wealth, an impoverished and brutalized industrial proletariat.

As the logic of their class position became clear, however, the proletariat would undergo a metamorphosis. The passive victims of capitalist exploitation would assume the direction of a new era. Karl Marx (1818-83) was the principal architect of socialism. In his early writings he targeted his criticism on the view, central to liberal theory, that moral and political principles have a universal validity. He argued, instead, that the view individuals form of their predicament (expressed in moral, political, philosophical, religious, and aesthetic terms) was a product of their place in a complex of social and economic roles. Marx saw the ideological realm as a reflection of more fundamental conflicts and developments in the economy and society.

The main points without socialism cannot exist are the following: 1. Democrat ism. In other words it is a democracy that is somehow seen in the actions of the people who live under socialism. People are formally free to chose their leavers, place to work and place to live, yet rather often it is limited to the yes / no question.

If the person did not want to live in the apartment the community owned, she / he would oftentimes have no other place to live. 2. Egalitarianism. From the French word egal that means equal egalitarianism means the equality between socialist people, and the greatest good for the greatest number of people in the decision making process. In other words, in my opinion, when the Soviet Union was choosing whether to build a new ballistic missile or a subway, a ballistic missile would be chosen because, the subway can benefit only the people who live in a specific place, while the ballistic missile would benefit all the Soviet people if it hit Washington DC or any other Soviet rival. 3.

Community. Because it was crucial for say Soviet Union, to have good ties at work (which people did not always chose), in school, or in the neighborhood (which people oftentimes could not chose either), community was paid very much attention to. Unlike in the USA where community does not have much control over the persons behavior, in the socialist systems, community usually stipulates the activities of people and can exercise certain pressures on the individual. 4.

Public ownership of means of production. Unlike in capitalism, where means of production are privately owned, in socialism the means of production are the communal property. In other words, there could not be formal owner of the plant, hotel or food chain in the socialist system, and every worker as well as every socialist system citizen was the co-owner of everything else in his / her country 5. Planning for common purposes. In the socialist system there is an abstract notion of planning for the common purpose. Historically no one knew what the common purpose was (is it to have 100% employment or increased efficiency for example), and the common purpose would be set by the socialist leaders and the party.

The common purpose was using egalitarian principles and attempted to benefit the most people possible.