Mentor/s
Professor Brian Stiltner Professor Sandra Young
Participation Type
Poster
Abstract
As the length of time that has passed since the era of socialistic giants like the Soviet Union and China increases, there has been a concurrent rise in sympathy for such an ideology. The fading or non-existent memory of the threat posed by such regimes is reflected in a significant age striation in support for socialism, with each successive generation more amenable to it. But a similarly consequential reason is a fundamental misunderstanding of what “socialism” really is. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, this paper defines socialism from Karl Marx’s own writings in order to investigate the economic and social outcomes in countries that implement socialism – whether on an economy-wide basis or only in a certain sector. These investigations cross a wide array of time periods and geographical locations, beginning with the first experiment (U.S.S.R) and concluding with modern examples such as North Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The aim of this paper is to document the outcomes exhibited by a broad sampling of socialist experiments and compare said outcomes to those in free-market-oriented contemporaries to ultimately determine whether socialism merits implementation at any scale within an economic system.
College and Major available
Welch College of Business, Accounting, Finance BS
Location
Digital Commons & West Campus 2nd Floor University Commons
Start Day/Time
4-28-2023 12:00 PM
End Day/Time
4-28-2023 2:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Prize Categories
Best Multidisciplinary Research or Collaboration, Most Scholarly Impact or Potential, Best Writing
From Marx to the Modern Day: Do the Economic and Social Impacts of Socialism’s Myriad Experiments Discourage Future Trials?
Digital Commons & West Campus 2nd Floor University Commons
As the length of time that has passed since the era of socialistic giants like the Soviet Union and China increases, there has been a concurrent rise in sympathy for such an ideology. The fading or non-existent memory of the threat posed by such regimes is reflected in a significant age striation in support for socialism, with each successive generation more amenable to it. But a similarly consequential reason is a fundamental misunderstanding of what “socialism” really is. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, this paper defines socialism from Karl Marx’s own writings in order to investigate the economic and social outcomes in countries that implement socialism – whether on an economy-wide basis or only in a certain sector. These investigations cross a wide array of time periods and geographical locations, beginning with the first experiment (U.S.S.R) and concluding with modern examples such as North Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The aim of this paper is to document the outcomes exhibited by a broad sampling of socialist experiments and compare said outcomes to those in free-market-oriented contemporaries to ultimately determine whether socialism merits implementation at any scale within an economic system.
Students' Information
Joseph Nowak / Finance and Accounting Major / Business Analytics and Honors Minor / Class of 2024