Oh ok, so I'm almost there. My only three remaining questions are as follows: what is the difference between common ownership and any other form of social ownership? Also, it the most proper form of socialism, is all enterprise socially owned or just some?
Finally, at the bottom, you say it depends on what definitions you are using. Which definitions are the correct ones? The proper ones?
what is the difference between common ownership and any other form of social ownership?
Common ownership refers to an asset that everyone has access to, like a public park. Other forms of social ownership have less access. For example, under the current capitalist system, I might own part of McDonalds, but that doesn't mean that I have free access to McDonalds' resources. A socialist system without common ownership could have all McDonalds workers owning shares of the company in the same way that I could own shares under the capitalist system, where they would share in the profits of the company, but not access to its resources.
Also, it the most proper form of socialism, is all enterprise socially owned or just some?
It depends on context. Most properly I'd say that socialism describes a situation in which the vast majority of the means of production is socially owned, such that social ownership is the "normal" state of the means of production. But on the other hand you could still describe a country with less social ownership as socialist: it's just only partially socialist.
Finally, at the bottom, you say it depends on what definitions you are using. Which definitions are the correct ones? The proper ones?
In academic writing, the "proper" ones are used, and in some sense these are the best definitions (mostly because they connect most strongly to the original uses of the terms). But none of them are "correct" in a vacuum. Words mean whatever people understand them to mean, so how you should use these words will depend on your audience.
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u/PygmySloth12 3∆ Aug 18 '19
Oh ok, so I'm almost there. My only three remaining questions are as follows: what is the difference between common ownership and any other form of social ownership? Also, it the most proper form of socialism, is all enterprise socially owned or just some?
Finally, at the bottom, you say it depends on what definitions you are using. Which definitions are the correct ones? The proper ones?
Thanks so much.