Socialism: Conservative Critique by Dagger, Santoni and Somerville Essay

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Updated: Mar 13th, 2024

Introduction

According to Dagger (2002), socialism is a set of ideologies which put that a society ought to exist through collective power and modes of production. It is a set of economic and social theories that advocate for public ownership and decentralized administration of the forms of production and the distribution of the goods produced. The ideologies also advocate for a society that is characterized by fairness and equality. Modern socialism was defined in the late 19th century by a group of working class politics who were against the industrialization and private ownership strategies in the society.

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According to Dagger (2002) the socialists believed that a society ought to exist through a collective or decentralized power and authority, where the means of production are also collective. It was focused towards creating an organized working class society through social evolution with an aim that the working class society would result in a society that has no social class. With time, the socialism ideologies became less common and criticisms arose with different philosophers taking their stand against Karl Marx’s socialism theory. In the current way of living, the by-fact meaning of socialism has changed and it is no longer applicable in the society.

The rise of socialism critiques

The concept of socialism found its way into the society as early as in the 19th century and with its theoretical and un-applicable thought, it has been taken as an unrealizable system that is only political. It has mainly existed as a utopian theory even though a number of governments have implemented it in their systems and it has also been applied in political philosophy in the late 19th century. Some of the socialist thinkers during this century were François Marie Charles Fourier, Henri de Saint-Simon and Robert Owen. They were keen to stress the positive aspects of socialism as well as its possible application in the governance of the society (Somerville, 1963).

Fourier developed the idea of a system of economic units that he referred to as the phalanxes. In this system of units, individuals in a particular society would work in unity to benefit the community without taking into consideration their social classes. Saint-Simon, on the other hand, emphasized industrialization, technological development and religious harmony through Christianity for the benefit of the entire society. Owen came up with ideas to organize the British labor force in order to come up with trade unions that would be aimed at looking into the workers’ rights. The ideas of these three theorists led to the rise of socialism critiques who felt that socialism would never work in society and it was an unrealistic idea (Somerville, 1963).

Criticisms of socialism

Santoni (1963) argues that the criticisms were based on a lack of understanding over sufficient efficiency in the economic and political models that had been established and their rejection of states as they tried to established socialist systems. Some of the critiques argue that the socialist idea of wealth distribution and decentralization of industries could be achieved without any form of reduced prosperity or economic and political freedom that the socialists advocated for.

The criticisms of socialism may, however not apply to all kinds of socialism because different socialists had come up with different ideas. Some socialists advocated for a mixed economy in which there is state ownership of capital, while others were for the idea of state ownership of capital through economic planning. Other socialists were for the idea of a mixed economy where both the private and public organizations co-exist and others rejected the co-existence and instead advocated for co-operative ownership where the government did not participate. The critics of socialism based their arguments on different ideas (Somerville, 1963).

According to Dagger (2002), critics have argued that the socialist principles reduce the incentives for work and economic efficiency through:

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  • Doing away with the buying and selling of the forms of production.
  • Elimination of the firms’ profit and loss strategies.
  • Elimination of a free market mechanism that brings about free means of pricing.
  • Too much reliance on state planning.

The critics have also argued that socialism is one way of stagnating technological advancement. The concept of state ownership of property normally impedes technological growth and reduces the ability of the state to prosper. Other critical points that have strongly been brought up by the critiques include (Somerville, 1963):

  1. Reduced prosperity: Some economists have argued that in those countries where the means of production are state-owned, their prosperity is lower than in those countries where the means are privately owned. It has also been argued that equality in income through socialism leads to lower levels of national income.
  2. Distorted price signals: The fixed price system as set by the socialists may be misleading the economy and the buyers and sellers. The market that is not guided by the free system may give inadequate information to investors who need to constantly relate prices with other prevailing conditions in the market. This means that the socialists were unrealistic while advocating for fixed prices.
  3. The tragedy of the commons: This applies to the socialist systems that advocated for common property ownership. Critics argue that the tragedy of the concept of the commons is only utopian and cannot operate in the real situation. Where property is owned in common, people will not be encouraged to enhance stewardship. According to the critics, private property ownership enhances the incentive to conserve and use responsibly.
  4. Objectivism: The objectivists argued that socialism was devaluing people and making them less capable of making their own decisions and choosing the best values for their lives. This is because decisions in the socialist society are centrally made.

These criticisms have been used as the base to eliminate the socialism concepts in the developing world. However, even as the critiques support their arguments the socialists often counter-criticized these critiques.

The primary point of criticism that the theorists raise against the other

The critiques raised different points against each other in support of their ideas and the socialists counter-argued that socialism is capable of improving economic efficiency and growth. They argued that efficiency and growth are not mutually exclusive and hence there is a possibility for rising in the society’s incentive to work and employees would be encouraged to be innovative if they were able to receive profits from the capitalist owners (Santoni, 1963).

Other socialists argue that it would be worthwhile to sacrifice a certain degree of efficiency for the sake of equality and social development. They argue that social development should be prioritized above economic development because without social development and equality, economic growth may stagnate. The socialists also support their views by arguing that the socialist countries are poor in resources because of the lack of support from the non-socialist countries (Somerville, 1963).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be argued that true and practical socialism can only develop from the criticisms made. The socialists would be coming up with more realistic ideas while trying to counter-react to the criticisms made by the capitalists and other theorists. Initially, socialism was used in some states but it was found that it was more utopian than practical and hence the rise of the socialist critiques. However, there is still the possibility that socialism might take effect in the world if its weaknesses are well addressed.

Bibliography

  1. Dagger, R. Ideals and Ideologies: A Reader: USA; Longman Publishing Co, 2002.
  2. Laidler, H. Socialism in Thought and Action: New York; University of Michigan, 2006.
  3. Mooney, A. Some Economic Criticisms of Socialism: Catholic Truth Society, 1988.
  4. Robbins, E. Socialism: USA; Harvard University Press, 2007.
  5. Somerville, J and Santoni, R. Social and Political Philosophy: California; Anchor Publishers, 1963.
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