Is socialism divided on human nature?

What are the three main arguments for this essay?

Whether humans are naturally cooperative

Whether human nature is fixed or socially shaped

Whether humans require authority and incentives

What does Marx say about human cooperation?

Revolutionary socialism says that humans have an innate tendency toward cooperation

Marx says that capitalism produces alienation → competition is artificial

What does Luxemburg say about human cooperation?

She, being a democratic socialist, emphasises class consciousness and mass collective action

Democratic socialists argue that humans instinctively organise collectively when exploitation becomes visible

What do Luxemburg and Marx suggest here in terms of cooperation?

Shared socialist rejection of the liberal egoistic model of human nature

Cooperation is seen as latent, suppressed by capitalism

What does Giddens say about human nature?

Giddens days that humans are enduringly self-interested

Third way socialism posits that competition and ambition are permanent rather than ephemeral

What does what Giddens say about human nature suggest?

Suggests rejection of natural cooperation and instead advocates for atomism

Suggests close alignment to neoliberal thinking

What does Marx say about human nature being fixed or shaped?

Revolutionary socialists believe in human malleability

Marx prescribes to historic materialism - behaviour reflects material conditions

What does Luxemburg say about human nature being fixed or shaped?

Luxemburg says that capitalism distorts morality and socialism restores it.

Social democracy also believes in human malleability

What does Marx and Luxemburg’s agreement on malleability suggest?

Emphasises importance of structural reform

Suggests that behaviour improves through welfare and equality as capitalism degrades human nature

What does Giddens say about human nature being fixed or shaped?

Third way socialism accepts fixed traits such as ambition and risk-taking and that capitalism does not cause human nature

Giddens rejects strong social determinism

What does Giddens position on malleability suggest?

Suggests that Third Way Socialism emphasises adaptation rather than transformation

Dilutes of socialist optimism

What does Marx say regarding authority and incentives?

Revolutionary socialists dont believe in the need for authority, but a dictatorship of the proletariat

Marx believed in the withering away of the state in late stage communism

What does Luxemburg say regarding authority and incentives?

Social democracy emphasises participatory democracy where all are equal so there is no need for authority

What does Luxemburg and Marx’s opinions of authority suggest?

Coercion decreases as equality increases

Authority is a response to inequality, not inherent selfishness or desires for power

What does Giddens say about authority and incentives?

Third way socialism advocates for incentives, conditional welfare, and high regulation

Giddens says there is ‘no rights without responsibilities’

What does what Giddens says about authority suggest?

Suggests humans need permanent discipline

Contradicts traditional socialist faith in self-regulation