Socialism Lecture 1: Key Concepts

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What is socialism seen as in the context of modernity?

A product of industrialization
A counter-narrative of modernity (correct)
A response to feudalism
A narrative of modernity

What are the two main approaches to achieving socialism?

Libertarianism and egalitarianism, or moralism and rationalism
State planning and decentralization, or violent overthrow of the state
Radical democracy and popular sovereignty, or state control and regulation
Revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and the state, or gradual reforms and regulation (correct)

What is a key value of socialism according to the text?

Equality of opportunity
Justice as fairness
Liberty as constraint
Liberty as fulfillment (correct)

What is a common critique of socialism, according to the text?

It leads to serfdom (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is a key element of socialism, according to Emile Durkheim?

Abolition of capitalism and replacement by a socialized economy (C) Signup and view all the answers

What are the essential 'tendencies' of socialism, according to R.N. Berki?

Egalitarianism, moralism, rationalism, and libertarianism (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main idea presented in the Communist Manifesto?

The transformative power of communist ideas (D) Signup and view all the answers

According to the Communist Manifesto, what is a characteristic of bourgeois society?

The replacement of agriculture with industry (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is a consequence of the need for a constantly expanding market in bourgeois society?

The need for a constantly expanding market chases the bourgeoisie globally (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is a contradictory aspect of bourgeois society, according to the Communist Manifesto?

Its potential for self-destruction (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the focus of the part of the Communist Manifesto dealing with 'Proletarians and communists'?

The objections to the abolition of private property (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is a key aspect of the 'Position of the Communists' part of the Communist Manifesto?

The appeal to workers to unite (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary goal of socialism, as described in the text?

To apply rational control to economic organisation (B) Signup and view all the answers

Who is credited with pioneering new techniques in factory communities, such as New Lanark?

Robert Owen (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary concern of Henri de Saint Simon, as described in the text?

The consequences of individualism (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the source of social problems, according to Robert Owen?

The competition of labour and machinery (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main idea expressed in Karl Marx's quote, 'The philosophers have only interpreted the world … the point, however, is to change it …'?

The goal of changing the world through conscious action (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main idea expressed in the quote, 'A spectre is haunting Europe …'?

The threat of socialism to European society (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the motor of historical development according to Marx's materialist conception of history?

Productive change (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the sum total of forces of production and relations of production in society?

Mode of production (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of the contradictions between the development of forces of production and social relations of production?

Class struggle and revolution (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the consequence of the constant revolutionizing of production in bourgeois society?

Crises of overproduction, market failure, and unemployment (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the fate of bourgeois society according to Marx?

It will inevitably fall and be replaced by a socialist society (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of the bourgeoisie in Marx's view?

They are the gravediggers of capitalism (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is a key aspect of communism according to the text?

The forceful overthrow of the existing order (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the ultimate goal of the system described by William Morris?

A society with no rich or poor, no masters or servants (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is a key element of Marx and Engels's vision for a future society?

An association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is a key feature of scientific socialism, according to the text?

A focus on rationality and scientism (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of the working class in Marxist theory?

To overthrow the existing capitalist system (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the ultimate goal of the proletarian revolution?

To abolish capitalism and establish a socialist system (D) Signup and view all the answers