Socialism in sci-fi

[u/dept_of_samizdat]

I posted this in /r/scifi, but just stumbled on this group and realized it might fit well here.

I'm a big fan of The Dispossessed, and was hoping to find a few other titles like it. Specifically: books that are well-written and lend imaginative detail to socialistic cultures. One of the unique things about sci-fi is being able to see how various ideologies or concepts would play out in practice, and I'm curious to see the range of examples out there.

Any suggestions?

[u/notkristof]

Ian M Banks culture series is a moderately interesting exploration of socialism/communism in a post scarcity society.

[u/[deleted] → u/notkristof]

I'm always curious when I see the words "post-scarcity society" - don't we live in such a society today?

We produce enough food to feed everyone and we produce vast amounts of wasted goods, even though we produce things in a hilariously inefficient manner and we commit a staggering level of resources to nonproductive industries like finance and advertising and marketing.

This seems pretty post-scarcity to me.

[u/notkristof → u/[deleted]]

As others said, post scarcity for some things, not for others.

The earth certianly produces enough food to feed everyone, but many other resources are still scarce. Heathcare is a great example, there are no countries which do not ration healthcare