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DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM – The Ideology of Social Justice

Democratic socialism is one of the seven semi-mainstream political ideologies on the Map My Politics ideology chart, occupying the area to the left of the liberal zone. Democratic socialists emphasize economic equality above all else and are therefore the most “left-wing” in terms of the conventional left-right spectrum. Because democratic socialists are less focused on social freedom, the ideology spans a considerable range on the second axis of personal liberty.

Regarding economic liberty, however, there is no doubt that democratic socialists fully embrace a social justice agenda, which means favoring significant taxation and regulation of private enterprise. If neoliberals, on the far right of the x-axis, are the ultimate champions of free markets, then democratic socialists are their opposite number, disposed to value human capital above corporate profits and individual wealth creation. While it isn’t true that democratic socialism rejects the free enterprise system altogether, it’s certainly the case that it advocates for limiting private ownership whenever it impedes perceived social goals and imposing significant workplace, environmental and other regulations as needed to achieve those goals. When it comes to personal property, democratic socialists support strongly progressive income and estate taxes to limit large disparities of wealth and to provide universal childcare, education, healthcare and retirement benefits.

Regarding the y-axis of social liberty, democratic socialists are generally supportive of the classical liberal freedoms of speech, press and religion that mainstream ideologies like conservatism, centrism and liberalism favor. As noted above, however, democratic socialism is chiefly focused on economic justice, so there is a wide range of belief among democratic socialists about how involved the state should be in family and personal matters. While it would overstate things to say that democratic socialists don’t care all that much about issues of personal freedom, it’s likewise correct that their deepest passions lie elsewhere – in rectifying inequality. Like liberals, democratic socialists tend to favor personal reproductive and marital freedom, including the right to obtain legal abortions, but many democratic socialists also believe a progressive agenda justifies government limitations on speech that might be deemed offensive. Unlike their libertarian socialist neighbors to the south, democratic socialists are not averse to state involvement in civil liberties when it serves the larger purpose of social justice.

The roots of democratic socialism can be traced to the same post-Enlightenment philosophers who influenced liberalism, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, but it blossomed as an independent ideology with the later influence of two philosophers who revolutionized political and economic thought, both literally and figuratively: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. There are numerous versions of democratic socialism, such as market socialism, liberal socialism and ethical socialism, but Marx and Engels were enormously important in shaping all forms of socialism, even the non-revolutionary category to which democratic socialism belongs.

Because the United States is – for the most part – a two-party system, democratic socialists are typically found within the more economically progressive of the two – the Democratic Party. There are minority parties that are perhaps more suited to socialist views, such as the Green Party and the Socialist Party, as well as a dedicated political organization, the Democratic Socialists of America. Regardless of how a democratic socialist chooses to participate politically, however, the hallmark will be a strong propensity to support anti-capitalist economic policies. As we stress repeatedly on the Map My Politics site, politics at its most fundamental level is about ideology.

Democratic socialists have been a strong presence in American elections since the early 20th century, even if they are seldom elected to office. Early democratic socialist politicians include presidential candidates Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas, and the novelist, Upton Sinclair, who ran for federal and state office in California as both a Socialist and a Democrat. In more modern times, elected democratic socialist politicians – usually within the Democratic Party – include Tom Hayden, Bernie Sanders (who is also an ideological populist), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib. Apart from Sinclair, some of the more important democratic socialist thinkers and writers have been Michael Harrington, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Christopher Hitchens (later more of a left-leaning neoconservative), and Howard Zinn (also claimed by utopian socialists).

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