Is socialism ethical?

The goal of Socialism is to build a society based on equality

Question: Is socialism ethical?
Position1 of 3›: Yes, socialism is ethical and advantageous
Argument: The goal of Socialism is to build a society based on equality

Socialism intends to build a society where everyone has the same opportunities and quality of life no matter where people are born or which family they come from.

The argument

The primary concern of the socialist model is an equal redistribution of wealth and resources from the rich to the poor. This is to ensure fairness and "an even playing field" in opportunities and outcome. To achieve this, the state intervenes in the labor market. In fact, in a socialist economy, the state is the primary employer. During times of economic hardship, the socialist state can order hiring. Thus, there is full employment even if workers are not performing tasks that are particularly in demand from the market. Individuals rely on the state for everything from food to healthcare. The government determines the output and pricing levels of these goods and services. In other words, in a socialist economy, public officials control producers, consumers, savers, borrowers, and investors by taking over and regulating trade, the flow of capital, and other resources. As an old socialist slogan describes the socialist ideals, “from each according to ability, to each according to need.” Therefore, everyone in socialism will have the same opportunities and quality of life no matter where people are born or which family they come from.

Premises

[P1]Socialism's primary aim is an equal redistribution of wealth and resources from rich to poor to ensure fairness and an even playing field in opportunity and outcome. [P2] Through state intervention as the primary employer, socialism can sustain full employment and provide for everyone's needs regardless of where or to which family people are born. [C] Therefore, because it aims to build a society based on equality, socialism is ethical and advantageous.

Counter-arguments

Thinkers put forward many ideas, but they are unrealistic. For example, ideas include a more egalitarian distribution of wealth, a sense of solidarity among the working class, better working conditions, and common ownership of productive resources. Some called for the state to take a central role in production and distribution. A number of experimental communities were founded based on the early socialists' utopian ideals; most were short-lived. Thus, socialism failed to build an equal society. Additionally, socialism has acted as an incubator for movements that are generally labeled far-right. European fascists in the 1920s and 1930s adopted socialist ideas, though they phrased them in nationalist terms: economic redistribution to the workers specifically meant Italian or German workers and then only a certain, narrow type of Italian or German. Therefore, not everyone has the same opportunities and quality of life.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The premise runs together two different things: the aim of reducing inequality, and one particular institutional means of pursuing it. Market socialism, social democracy and cooperative ownership pursue the first without state direction of the economy, so the argument defends a specific model while claiming the general term. [Rejecting P2] What is described is a command economy in which the state is sole employer and sets output and prices, and the premise treats its stated goals as achieved outcomes. "Full employment even if workers are not performing tasks in demand" concedes the standard allocation objection in the same sentence that claims the benefit. The conclusion also does not follow: an aim is not an accomplishment, and whether a system is ethical turns on what it produces as well as what it intends — which is the ground the counter-argument disputes.

Proponents cited

Will Kenton
“Socialists contend that shared ownership of resources and central planning provide a more equal distribution of goods and services and a more equitable society.”
Malcom X
“So, when we look at the African continent, when we look at the trouble that’s going on between East and West, we find that the nations in Africa are developing socialistic systems to solve their problems.....He mentioned that while he was in some of those Scandinavian countries he saw no poverty. There was no unemployment, no poverty. Everyone was getting education, everyone had decent housing, decent whatever–they needed to exist.”
Elizabeth Warren
“There is nobody in this country who got rich on their own. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory... Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God bless! Keep a hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”