Social Characteristics Of Socialism

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The Oxford Dictionary defines Socialism as “a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole”. Over the last two centuries, the term socialism has been used to refer to positions as divergent as the strict centralized socialist policies typical of the Soviet Union era to the modern social democratic policies common in Western Europe. Two main characteristics of modern socialist economies include Social Welfare/Wealth Redistribution to create social equality and rigorous labor/worker protection. Considering these defining characteristics of modern socialism, most Western European economies are indeed socialist.
Western European countries are the most common positive working examples provided in debates about the benefits of social welfare programs such as free public health care, education, retirement/pension provision, etc. Perhaps the most prominent example that is often used as a model by other countries is Sweden, which recently ranked as the four...

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