Essay on Socialism: An Irrelevant Ideology for Class 10, 12, Mains Exam (UPSC, PSC, SSC)
The state ownership of economic and political system for the means of production and distribution is known as socialism. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote about socialism in many of their writings. These rational thinkers were disturbed by the exploitation of the working class at the time of industrial revolution. A socialist economic system eliminates economic inequalities and abolish exploitation. The aim of the socialist system destroys the class system by removing exploitation, alienation of labours, oppression and replacing the greed and profit-making motif with concern for well being of all. The objective of socialism is to meet the needs of the people rather than profit making motif. In a socialist economy the government controls the production and consumption of goods and services.
Features of socialism:
The characteristics of socialism are listed below:
- The government owns the means of production and distribution of goods and services.
- The state plans the economic activities and the allocation of resources are not controlled by the market.
- Socialist economy eradicates exploitation, oppression and alienation of workers.
- The structural changes in a socialist economy eradicates the religious ideology.
- The socialist state abolishes class differentiation and will inequality.
- The welfare of the state is promoted due to socialism.
- Income distribution is same as compared to free market economy. This avoids capitalism and concentration of wealth in the hands of few people.
- The central planning authority regulates the price of goods in a socialist economy.
Why socialism is an irrelevant ideology?
Socialism, despite having many merits also suffer from certain disadvantages for which it is considered to be an irrelevant ideology.
Customer’s sovereignty is not given importance: The customers have to select from whatever goods and services is available, they cannot place forth their preference of their own goods and services. The central planning authority and the government decide the availability of goods. The price and the quantity of the commodities are decided by the government.
Non existence of occupational freedom: People in a socialist economy cannot have the freedom to choose their own occupation. The jobs are provided by the state and are controlled by them. There is no element of freedom as there is an existence of government dictatorship.
Bureaucratic evils: Evils of bureaucracy such as nepotism, favoritism, corruption creeps in the society due to the non -existence of automatic functioning. The government that is the central authority takes control of the entire administration.
Rigid economy: Socialist economy is a rigid economy as it is not susceptible to any kind of changes as per the requirements. In such kind of economy people are made to work like robots without even the slightest chance of getting incentives.
Burden on government: On behalf of the government, the Central Authority looks after the economic activities. It gets overburdened and cannot have time to look after such activities that will bring welfare to the nation.
Huge expenditure on planning: In a socialist economy, the expenditure is considered a total waste as it puts a burden on the national economy.
Conclusion:
Socialism is not based on free market economy. It does not provide goods and services according to the laws of demand and supply. Communist countries favour socialism and the western countries favors capitalism. The democratic process under socialism fails to generate governmental objectives consistently with the pursuit of efficiency, so it is considered an irrelevant ideology.
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