The Pros and Cons of Socialism

by Braun and Willie Mo
Published February 27, 2025

If you had a penny for each type of socialism, you would probably have more money than you would think. Socialism is an economic system that relies on people owning industries rather than private organizations or people. Socialism is in our American society way more than you might think it is. In fact, you probably take most of their accomplishments for granted, such as workers rights, and weekends off. There are some good things and some bad things about socialism. One good thing is that socialism strives for a more equal society. One bad thing is that higher taxes reduce incentives to invest and work. These are a few for the most common types of socialism. 

First there is Communism, the most known type in the U.S. An example of a country that is a communist society is China. This ideology is also considered by Capitalists and Fascists as their ideological enemy. Communist governments strive to treat people equally and was used by most of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War, and Cuba still does. The Cold War was an ideological war between the USSR and US and the Eastern Bloc was the sphere of influence the USSR had in Europe. The main tenants with this system are that there is no freedom of speech and that all property is owned by the government. 

Secondly, there is Marxism, the basis for most Communist systems. It was created by Karl Marx in Germany during the 19th century. To quote Britannica, for those living in Marxist systems, “The life of the worker depends on things that he has created but that are not his,” which shows how in Marxism, there’s equal ownership so what you make is not just to profit some CEO or company. Negative traits about this are that there's no religion and the government owns your housing and chooses where you live.

Lastly, there is the Social Democracy system. This is the main system of government in the Nordic Nations. Nordic Nations are the countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. If you’re in this system of government, the benefits you receive are: reductions of poverty due to an actual minimum wage, free health care, and businesses that care for the workers more than the profit. Downsides of this are “worker vs owner” mentalities and less people wanting to do harder jobs. 

Socialism has many pros like worker’s rights or higher minimum wages, but you can’t forget the downsides like discouraging hard jobs. This system of government and economic policy is still used as a basis for many countries’ governments as they are still reliant on its ideals. The U.S. doesn’t use it, but has several influences on our society.