My Revision Notes: Edexcel A-level Politics: Political Ideas
Socialism Revision Guide Extra Knowledge to develop AO1 knowledge for Edexcel Paper 1 core ideologies question. Including clarification of strands, further depth on key thinkers.
- All socialists value equality
- Revolutionary socialists favour equality of outcome and absolute equality
- Social Democrats and the Third Way broadly favour equality of opportunity and
equality of welfare
Beatrice Webb offers a negative view of human nature viewing the average viewer as
selfish so was against worker control. She favoured paternalism and a representative
democracy with an enlightened socialist government class. This is why she can also be
described as a democratic socialist as well as a evolutionary socialist
Revolutionary socialists argue that society should run on collectivist lines as morally the
collective take moral precedence over the individual self-interest.
Anthony Giddens argues that societal community is fundamental to offset negative effects
of free-market globalisation as it brings social cohesion, social values and social
responsibility
∵ citizens are the stakeholders in society ∴ it is important that the state is large
enough to undertake social reinvestment. However this must be means tested to
prevent a dependency culture
Webb argues that equality of ownership would equate to extensive state nationalisation and
not direct worker control.
Utopian Socialism:
Despised exploitation, greed and selfish individualism that surrounded capitalism.
Robert Owen argued that free-market capitalism should be replaced by small-scale
cooperative communities that would be communally owned
Charles Fourier argued for the same societal change but also explicitly mentioned an
extension of rights to women - is considered one of the first socialist feminists
This is not compatible with Marxism who criticises the over use of ideology and idealism as
it offered no depth to how society could be maintained
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