I should start a company that bullies other companies so that they improve their product and manufacturing increasing safety and quality. My customers get info on which companies don’t wanna follow our guidelines so that they can avoid them. The money they send goes towards procuring that information and monitoring more companies. Non customers get benefits but my customers get more
No guys. You don’t understand. Socialism is when everyone teams up! Like a big party where everyone brings dip. Everything is free, and everyone has a big house and can do all their hobbies and gets a great job they love. With socialism- you can always afford to eat out, and there are no poor people.
Oh. No. Wait. That’s... that’s not right at all. Wait... socialism is... simply a system where the community controls production, distribution, and commerce of goods? And Marxist socialism is literally just a transitional phase between capitalism and communism? But wait... all these people can’t be using a word they don’t actually understand the meaning of just because they heard somewhere that word means “fee stuff and no greedy people” perish the thought.
I do personally think socialism is a decent idea, and better for the community, but it relies really heavily on trusting that everyone else isn't greedy.
You can't make things "better for the community"
Communities are abstract concepts that don't exist
You can make things better for individuals and that's it
Of course you improve conditions for a community. Make sure everyone have access to good education, healthcare, proper sanitation and a fair legal system.
If it’s not in a hard science textbook it’s a social construct- and even then it is a conceptualization of a construct from a limited perspective. But- to the idea of individuals vs a community- I agree there IS an important distinction in individual vs group- in a group with 10 people who each have an equal voice- if they all have $100 and you make a change so that 6 now have $150 and 4 now have $60- a survey of the “community” would show an overall increase in satisfaction, and community worth increased by $140. but we did not improve the “community” we improved a few individuals more than we did others.
But you CAN improve a community. Music doesn’t exist. It’s a concept- a perception of sound, but we can improve a music track can’t we? Relationships are also constructs- a husband, a sister, a friend, etc. BUT- we can improve these relationships without changing the individual or their circumstances can’t we? The key is that a group of individuals is not a community any more than a group of fighters is a team. Q
In the military it is the es·prit de corps, in a large company it is a “culture” and in a small work group it is a team. Where we live and work and play is our community. The people we must share with and have some form of relationship and exchanges with due to the inherent facts of our existence. So improving things for a “community” can be seen in things like facilitating amicable relations to each other, enhancing the individuals ability to live their life as unobstructed and free, and secure, as possible.
Closing: the distinction goes both ways. Communities are made of individuals but individuals alone do not make a community. Enhancing any one individual does not enhance a community, but enhancing things for a community enhances all individuals. Look at the stimulus checks- some people NEEDED them and $1200 was a big help (but far from a total fix) and some people just said “neat.” And put it in the bank. The checks enhanced individuals but not communities.
Communities are abstract concepts that don't exist
You can make things better for individuals and that's it
It's a small but important difference
Socialism is a social construct
Capitalism is a social construct
What’s the matter