Socialism vs. Democratic Socialism

Main Difference

Several political philosophies exist within the system, and people follow the ones they agree with. But then some of them have classes within the original system, and therefore it gets important to explain them in detail for a better understanding. The two terms discussed in this article are Socialism and Democratic Socialism. First, one gets defined as a system in which the society itself gets the power to shape their future and manage everything in their lives. Later one gets described as a political ideology that shows democratic freedom along with the social ownership of the items produced.

Difference Between Socialism and Democratic Socialism

Comparison Chart

Socialism

Socialism is a broader term and gets defined as a system in which the society itself gets the power to shape their future and manage everything in their lives. Although some of the responsibilities fall on the government which has to make sure that everyone gets decent chances for living a life suitable to their status. All the necessities such as education, health should become provided by the authorities and personal matters such as marriage, living, freedom fall in the hands of people themselves. The financial market gets controlled according to the requirements of the population of the area, and the government gets to take critical decisions instead of private companies. It is more practiced in the European countries where democracy exists, and the power lies with the people. It also discourages the division in class based on the economy. The drawback is that standard of living for people cannot change quickly. Socialists people believe that there should be parity among the people, and the administration should make sure that everyone gets an equal share of opportunities. It is a place where individuals who are rich have to pay more tax while persons who are poor pay less tax and get more benefits. For socialism, the amount of the product that gets provided depends on the government and particular establishments who take into consideration different factors and surveys. Socialism helps in creating more job opportunities for people, and hence they spend a life according to own management.

Democratic Socialism

Democratic Socialism is a term that gets defined as a political ideology that shows democratic freedom along with the social ownership of the items produced. The main focus here is that democratic management of the enterprises takes place within a system that follows the socialist economic model. People who support this ideology believe that neither the government gets to control the lives of individuals nor the people running big companies get to decide how much someone has to pay for a particular item. They have a firm belief that people who get affected by the decisions are the ones who keep the right of making such actions. Many corporate organizations do not have anyone to answer to and therefore are free to continue controlling the people for their benefits. Similarly, the government sometimes make decisions based on personal gains and does not take into account people living in a particular location. Many philosophers relate it to the socialist model, but it is very different where the economy is considered support for the political system and both become dependent on each other so that one entity does not have the upper hand on the other and hence, benefiting people. They argue that in the short term, no company gets eliminated and hold power, but over a longer period some policies get introduced that regulate them, and the government has some say in their actions. At the same time, one thing remains certain, it is still against the capitalist and capitalism and differs completely.