socialism

CEFRB2

/ˈsoʊʃəlɪzəm/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
noun
A system seeking shared ownership of businesses and resources.
02
noun
Extra detail
Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.

Examples

Socialism is the same as Communism, only better English.
I do not believe in socialism.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5

Also pronounced

/ˈsəʊʃəlɪzəm/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

A system of social and economic equality in which there is no private property.
A system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state.
The intermediate phase of social development between capitalism and communism in Marxist theory in which the state has control of the means of production.

More examples

In context

Soil improvement often involves the movement of large quantities of earth, but the Chinese peasants face this task with a high degree of enthusiasm for socialism.
I have used the term "liberal solidarity". It needs to stake out its ideological territory and to debate not only with socialism and conservatism, but with other varieties of liberalism.

Quick test

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Question 1 · Quick check

In a system based on blank, the government owns major industries for public benefit.

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Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

Soil improvement often involves the movement of large quantities of earth, but the Chinese peasants face this task with a high degree of enthusiasm for socialism.
1976 August, “Land Improvement in China”, in China Reconstructs, volume XXV, number 8, China Welfare Institute, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 29, column 2
Socialism is usually defined as "common ownership of the means of production". Crudely: the State, representing the whole nation, owns everything, and everyone is a State employee. This does not mean that people are stripped of private possessions such as clothes and furniture, but it does mean that all productive goods, such as land, mines, ships and machinery, are the property of the State... One must also add the following: approximate equality of incomes (it need be no more than approximate), political democracy, and abolition of all hereditary privilege, especially in education. These are simply the necessary safeguards against the reappearance of a class-system.
1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. II
As Gorbachev understood perestroika, the Soviet Union would retain the principal components of state socialism (state control over the means of production and centralized planning), meaning that state control over the economy and the labor force were to be maintained.
2005, Louise Shelley, Policing Soviet Society: The Evolution of State Control, Routledge, →ISBN, page 57
For me, socialism is not statism, or the collective ownership of the means of production. It is a judgment on the priorities of economic policy…the community takes precedence over the individual in legitimate economic policy. The first lien on the resources of a society therefore should be to establish that "social minimum" which would allow individuals to lead a life of self-respect, to be members of the community.
1978, Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, Basic Books, page xii
I have used the term "liberal solidarity". It needs to stake out its ideological territory and to debate not only with socialism and conservatism, but with other varieties of liberalism.
2019, Geoffrey M. Hodgson, Is Socialism Feasible?: Towards an Alternative Future, Edward Elgar Publishing, →ISBN

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Origin

noun

Attested since 1832; either from French socialisme or from social + -ism.

Deep Dive

noun

More examples

Related

Quick test

In a system based on blank—, the government owns major industries for public benefit.

Nearby

Origin

noun

In a system based on blank, the government owns major industries for public benefit.