Governing ideologies represent a combination of ethical principles, ideals, doctrines, and symbols that would explain how society should work and be controlled. It is primarily concerned with how the government would be allocated, and to what ends it should influence a society. Because of the variety of influences from cultural, religious, and other forces, different governing ideologies have been developed over the years, with their unique characteristics and implications for society. Comparing and contrasting such ideologies is important for a more profound understanding of their ideals and principles as well as how they have shaped societies. This paper aims to find the similarities and differences between two governing ideologies – socialism and anarchism. Socialism is the form of economy that entails the ownership and management of resources by society, while anarchism is a structure in which individuals govern themselves independently and in groups to produce social wealth.
Socialism is a social and economic doctrine calling for the public instead of private ownership and control of property and financial resources. According to the view of socialism, the members of society do not live or work separately from one another but rather work together toward a mutual goal (Rong, 2020). Besides, everything that a socialist-governed society produces is a social product to some degree, with everyone contributing to the production of a good being entitled to its share. As a result of the mutual collaboration and the desire to reach a common goal, society as a whole is seen as the one that should own and control property for the benefit of everyone. Therefore, the socialist state is considered a governing ideology implying a state being under the control of a party that organizes the political, economic, and social affairs of the said state to maintain socialism.
Anarchism represents a cluster of doctrines regarding political, social, and economic affairs that are centered on the idea that the government is both unnecessary and harmful. Anarchism is a radical and revolutionary political economy and philosophy in which society should exist without government (Fiala, 2017). In such a society, harmony and goodwill are achieved not using submitting to the law or obeying the authority but through having free agreements made between different groups. The nature of such groups can be territorial, professional, culture, or others, freely developed for the sake of consumption or production as well as the satisfaction of numerous needs and aspirations. In its essence, anarchism constitutes a process in which domination and authority are replaced with horizontal and non-hierarchical structures that rely on voluntary connections between the members of society.
Socialism and anarchy are similar because both ideologies advocate reaching equality for all individuals to achieve the common good in society. However, they are different in the approaches taken for realizing the good for each member of society. The proponents of socialism suggest that the common good can be achieved with the help of collective effort and collaboration. Those in support of anarchism claim that individuals should not be forced to work communally and must be given the right to develop their potential in the way they see fit. Regardless of race and class, equal opportunities should be given to members of society within the anarchist view.
Socialists and anarchists differ in their approaches toward the role of the government. According to the socialist perspective, the use and allocation of the resources owned by society to produce goods and services should be controlled and planned by a popularly-elected government (Brundenius, 2020). The proponents of the ideology thing that centralized economic planning is the best option for getting the optimal results and that the government should be an instrument of justice. The anarchist perspective is different as it finds that the government has no use and can impede the growth of society. Therefore, anarchists will do everything in their power to overthrow the government and create a social structure in which individuals are free to govern themselves. The differences between anarchism and socialism show that they cannot co-exist in one society because they use different means to achieve the common good. Thus, the success of anarchism will cause the failure of socialism and the other way around.
Both socialism and anarchism have received some criticism in the realm of public opinion. For example, socialism has been criticized for creating distorted or absent price signals, causing the reduced prosperity of the nations, as well as resulting in adverse sociopolitical effects. On the bright side, socialism could be a good way of governing society because it entails the absence of exploitation and rejects discrimination (Fiala, 2017). This is because every member of a socialist society is guaranteed to have access to essential goods, including those individuals who are not able to contribute. Because the system disapproves of discrimination, it is expected that each person will do what is good for them and what they enjoy. On the downside, socialism is not the best way to govern because of the lack of competitiveness and innovation, as well as the reliance on cooperative pooling (Schrager, 2020). Because of this, the individuals who find value in the competition will be viewed negatively in society, which can result in stalling progress and the absence of innovation necessary to push society forward.
Anarchism has been subjected to some scrutiny by the argument that the structure cannot work long-term, and it cannot survive a revolution unless undertaken by an overwhelming majority. The ideology can be an excellent way to govern society because it prevents the government from interfering with public affairs or engaging in corruption to strengthen its powers. Besides, anarchism is a positive governing approach because it can adjust to each society depending on its needs and perspectives, with relevant social, political, and economic affairs determined through collaboration and negotiation. Anarchism may not be a good approach to governing because of the increased reliance on human nature and the perpetuation of egoism in society. Thus, if anarchists are proven wrong in any way, their ideology falls apart, leading to the disintegration of their structure.
To conclude, socialism and anarchism are governing ideologies that aim to establish an environment of equality and collaboration in society. However, the means used to achieve their ends are mutually exclusive, which means that the two structures cannot exist in unison. Both approaches have their positive and negative sides, with socialism criticized for stalling innovation and anarchism scrutinized for the overt reliance on individual opinion. Even though there may be instances in which the structures would work, they alone cannot guarantee a prosperous and well-developed society.
References
Rong, Z. (2020). Productivity, public capital, and socialism with Chinese characteristics – A critique of the doctrine of incompatibility between capital and public ownership. China Political Economy, 3(1), 121-139.
Brundenius, C. (2020). Reflections on socialism in the twenty-first century facing market liberalism, rising inequalities and the environmental imperative. Springer.
Fiala, A. (2017). Anarchism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web.
Schrager, A. (2020). Why socialism won’t work: Capitalism is still the best way to handle risk and boost innovation and productivity. Foreign Policy. Web.