Three ideologies on which economic policies can be based: economic liberalism, economic nationalism and socialism

Juha Wilén

10.3.2023

Companies and their business making are affected by several factors. One group of these factors are economic policies and other policies, such as policies concerning education, science and industrial relations between employers and employees, as the readers of this article very well know. However, the readers may be less knowledgeable about the significance of ideology or ideologies in preparing and implementing these policies.

In this article I will deal with three ideologies – economic liberalism, economic nationalism and socialism - which have influence on economic behaviour of people and on economic policies made by the states. Beside economic ideologies, I will also treat three ideologies which affect the social (sub)system of society. They are social liberalism, social conservatism and socialism. Finally, I will shortly describe three ideologies which affect the political (sub)system of society. They are political liberalism, political conservatism and socialism.

Definition of ideology

An ideology is a set of social rules, beliefs and views. Social rules both enable and constrain action in all spheres of life. They define the boundaries of approved action and punish indirectly actors making divergent decisions. There are different kinds of rules: values, norms, rules for organizing people, and rules for organizing objects (non-human things). According to Neil Smelser values are the most general statements of legitimate ends which guide action: they provide the broadest guides to purposive and desirable social action. Norms are needed to govern the pursuit of those goals. Norms specify certain regulatory principles which are necessary if values are to be realized. They specify broadly the rights and obligations or expected behaviour of individuals. Rules for organizing people show how motivation is mobilized for organized action and how individuals are distributed to various sectors, organizations and roles. Rules for organizing objects indicate how resources are allocated to different sectors, organizations and operations in organizations. (Smelser 1967, 24-37.) Beliefs are assumptions about the world: what is believed to exist and what not, and what is regarded as true and what false. An example of a belief is the assumption that fiscal deficit spending (state expenditure exceeds income) is the best way to get economy out of a recession. Beliefs may or may not be true. Beliefs which are justified and true are knowledge.

Rules are social products, originally private ideas of individuals and later turned into collective ideas through interaction. Their existence ultimately depends on their being shared by a significant proportion of people in society (see Scott 1965, 114). For example, the value of free enterprise exists and has influence on individuals when they want economy to be organized privately because they regard that kind of economy as moral or rational. Besides, an influence can be observed when an actor thinks that violating or committing to a rule leads to sanctions or rewards by other actors who believe in or have committed to the rule in question. When other actors conform to a rule and punish or reward actor A according to circumstances, we are talking about governance (”hallinta” in Finnish) which always occurs through rules. Governance requires that third parties have the capacity to change A’s action, that is, power. Power means the capacity to bring about desirable behaviour and/or action in other people. This capacity is derived from resources and command over those resources, and ultimately from rules, as something is a resource only if people regard it as one. (See Schatzki 1990, 284 and 289.)

Before I go to the economic and other ideologies I shall define some other important concepts. These concepts are society, the three subsystems of society – economic system (shortly: economy), social system and political system, nation and the state.

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Definitions of economy, social system, political system, society and the state

All social systems consist of actors or agents (in this article human beings and groups of human beings), behaviour and actions of individuals, collective action of people, resources which people have and use, the distribution of these resources between people, and the written and unwritten rules which guide and sometimes determine the behaviour and actions of people.

To define society, it is better to first define its subsystems. Economy is a system comprising a group of people, their actions related to producing, marketing, selling, distributing and consuming goods and services, financing those actions, means of production and of distribution (raw materials, production facilities such as factories, machinery, equipment and tools, financial capital, and transport and telecommunication networks), the results of production (new capital and consumer goods, and services), and the rules which guide and sometimes determine how goods and services are produced, sold, distributed, consumed and financed.

By social system I do not mean the social welfare system (welfare services and social income transfers) of the state. It is a system which consist of educational, scientific, artistic, religious, sports and a large variety of non-governmental organizations, the activities of these organizations, the results of these activities (e.g. scientific books, paintings and sports performances) and rules which guide the behaviour and actions of people in science, education, arts, religions, sports, family life and e.g. in non-governmental environmental protection. Some social scientists call this system socio-cultural system. I do not, because culture is better seen as a set of shared values, norms, beliefs, views and attitutes which concerns not only this system but also economy and political system.

Political system is a collective system of co-operation and competition in which a nation or the adult members of a nation (or in authoritarian systems a smaller group of people) determine which decisions (or at least which types of decisions) are made in a centralized way through the state and determine which values, norms, ideas and beliefs these decisions are based on. Political system can also be called a series of decision processes in which the first phase of a decision process are the ideas concerning the security and well-being of a nation or of some group within a nation. The last phase are various policies, such as fiscal policy, monetary policy and educational policy. Policies are, put simply, sets of decisions affecting economy, social system and the political system. Political action covers all decisions on whether economic, scientific, artistic and other activities of a nation are organized in a centralized way through the state or not, and if yes, how exactly. Policies are carried out and often designed by organizations which act in the name of the state. They can simply be called state organizations. Sometimes the designers work for political parties, employers’ organizations, labour unions or other lobbies, and not for a state organization.

Society is the combination of economy, social system and political system. Society is an interactive network which is mainly based on the voluntary organization of the members of a nation. The word ”mainly” must be used here, because the state has been given significant rights to interfere, especially in the political system. For instance, all modern states have passed electoral legislation, and by means of this, the elected or selected leaders have influence on who may run for office and who may vote in parliamentary and other elections.

Nation is one of the most significant social groups and organizing principles in the modern world. I define it here in accordance with Max Weber. According to Weber a group of people is a nation if 1) it has a common factor or factors (language, religion, history or physical features) which allows it to differentiate from others (outsiders), 2) the members of the group recognize widely that the common factor functions as a source of shared meanings and solidarity and 3) the group has a set of political organizations which coordinates and guides the activities of the nation to preserve its culture and increase its well-being. In my opinion, the political organizations do not need to be state organizations, meaning that a group of people does not need to have a state to be a nation.

The state: quite often the state organizations (parliament, council of ministers, office of the president, ministries and other organizations, or their human parts (members of parliament, ministers, president, civil servants) are called the state. I myself see these as representatives of a transcendental phenomenon called the state. I regard the state as a structural consequence of organizations (in the sense of arrangements), functional separation, control and supervision which have occurred in relation to space and time in most parts of the world during the last millennia. By creating geographic borders and controlling the movements of people, goods, services and capital within the borders, these micro level practices define and help create a unit which seems to be much more than the sum of its parts. Through legal processes, organization of national defence and administrative activities the state looks like, instead of a structural consequence, a real structure which organizes the lives of people and gives them meaning. Ultimately, the state is born as a result of actions by organizations using power in the name of the state and by citizens who exert influence on those organizations. Although the state is not an actor, the organizations (in the sense of arrangements) which create the state, make it look like one. The view that the state is an actor is underlined by economic policies and other policies carried out by organizations acting in the name of the state, as the consequences of these policies are often rather easily observable.

The state is often divided into three branches: the legislative, the executive and the judicial branch. The legislative branch covers the national parliament. The executive branch comprises the president or the monarch (if executive decision-making rights are vested in either of these), the council of ministers (if there is one), ministries and other state organizations subordinated to the president, monarch and/or the council of ministers. The executive branch prepares and implements laws approved by parliament. It can also issue executive orders or regulations which specify a law or which have a narrower scope than laws do. The judicial branch covers the courts of justice and the people working in them. Courts of justice evaluate laws and regulations.

The state is not a democratic organization, set of organizations or structure. It is a hierarchical structure with the president and/or prime minister, other ministers and parliamentarians on the top, followed by high-level, middle-level and lower-level civil servants. The lower-level civil servants do not get to decide on important or wide-ranging matters in the state organizations they work in, they only implement decisions.

It has to said that the mutual boundaries of the three subsystems of society are not clear-cut as the subsystems have overlapping actors, activities, resources and rules. For example, financial capital permeates many social and political activities. The same applies to the relationship between society (especially political system) and the state.

Economic ideologies – concise definitions

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Economic liberalism

Liberalism comprises first and foremost the following values and beliefs:

-market allocation of resources. Raw materials, semi-finished goods, finished goods, services, financial capital and human labour should be exchanged in markets which are social structures of a distributed kind. The law of supply and demand prevails in the markets. The existence of a large number of producers/sellers and a large number of purchasers, and the mutual negotiations and bargaining between the parties concerning the prices and other conditions of deals lead to the emergence of market prices for goods and services. Market prices act as signals for rational economic action and contribute to economic efficiency.

-free enterprise. Every individual, at least every adult citizen, may establish a company, either on her/his own or with other individuals. Some conditions on this right may be imposed, e.g. a clean criminal record

-private ownership of means of production (production facilities, machinery, equipment and tools meant for producing goods and services) are owned by clearly identifiable private individuals, not by the state or a political party or other political collective which would have a shared ownership of the means of production

-accumulation of (private) capital, and growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

-equality in terms of opportunities (everyone should have the same possibilities as regards to getting education, getting a job, establishing a company or investing in a company)

Economic nationalism

There are various kinds of economic nationalism, but in this article nationalism comprises the following values and beliefs:

-the goals of the nation (mainly survival, every-day security, national autonomy, unity, self-sufficiency and material well-being) and/or the interests of the state (mainly survival, security, independence) prevail over the economic and other interests of individuals

-market allocation of resources may be tolerated or even supported when it advances the goals of the nation and of the state, such as self-sufficiency. Otherwise, state interventions in economy are preferred to market mechanism.

-protectionism: the state should restrict imports by banning the import of certain goods and by imposing quotas and customs tariffs on other products to protect domestic, especially state-owned enterprises. The state should also restrict foreign investments in the country. On the other hand, the state should advance exports of domestic companies abroad (”import is bad, export is good”).

-the nation, or more specifically, the state should own large companies in industry sectors (including service sectors) deemed strategically important. These often include the production and distribution energy, manufacture of weapons, and transport services, to mention a few. Majority ownership of the companies will sometimes suffice instead of total state ownership.

-an implied (non-explicit) value in economic nationalism is sometimes the will to erect barriers for new companies to enter various industry sectors to protect state-owned enterprises and politically connected private companies from competition. These new companies could be both foreign and domestic.

Economic socialism

There have been (and still are) various kinds of economic socialism starting from old co-operative and communitarian ideas through the so-called utopian socialism of the early 19th century and Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism and Maoism to modern day social democratic ideology. In this article economic socialism means a very non-liberal type of socialism. Its main values and beliefs are the following:

-market allocation of resources and price mechanism would not bring about good results in economy and society in general even if it was possible to achieve these conditions.

-the distribution of all resources (raw materials, semi-finished goods, finished goods, services and financial capital) is decided by a collective which takes everyone’s interests into consideration (instead of a few capital owners, i.e. capitalists). In Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism and early social democratic thinking this collective is the state. Politicians and civil servants determine what is produced, in which quantities, in which methods and for which client industry sectors and consumer groups. This centralized way of decision-making is often called central planning. In Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism the state is more or less implicitly controlled by one party, the communist party, which nominates the state leaders and most, if not all civil servants. In social democratic ideologies the existence of competing parties is allowed, and the state is sovereign.

-public ownership of enterprises and of means of production. Private individuals are allowed to own consumer goods such as clothes and households goods, sometimes even homes. But they are not allowed to establish and own enterprises of their free will. The state decides whether individuals or groups of people have the right or not.

-with central planning comes a wide and detailed regulation of economic activities. This pertains to production, sales and purchase of goods and services by domestic and foreign actors in the country as well as to foreign trade and foreign investments in both directions (inward and outward).

-growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

-equality in terms of results. Socialists want the standard of living to be the same or almost the same for all people irrespective of the education level or work efforts by individuals. This can be achieved by giving the same salary/wage for all employees or for all employees with the same number of work years. Another way of equalizing net income is through progressive income tax. A third way is granting higher social income transfers to poorer people.

When one compares the three economic ideologies with each other, socialism is the most hierarchical one. Socialism could be called a ”pro-worker” ideology. This means that the interests (at least the short-term interests) of workers and employees in general are advocated at the expense of 1) enterprises (especially private companies) and 2) markets and consumers.

Economic liberalism is a pro-market and pro-consumer ideology. If there is a large number of producers/sellers of goods in an industry sector (as the existence of a market requires), the ensuing competition will make the companies improve the quality of their products or decrease the prices of their products, benefiting consumers in both cases.

Economic nationalism is the second most hierarchical ideology. It could be called a pro-enterprise ideology meaning that the interests of state enterprises and favouritized private companies are advanced at the expense of employees and consumers.

One could legitimately add a fourth economic ideology called environmentalism. As mining and quarrying, extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas, manufacture of various goods and many other business sectors cause emissions to the environment, several people have started to support an ideology which aims at protecting soil, waters and air from pollution. Environmentalists support measures which decrease the consumption of raw materials and energy per produced GDP unit. As the so called clean technology (cleantech) may not solve all environmental problems (and as manufacture of wind & solar power plants requires natural resources as well), the more fundamentalist proponents of environmentalism support negative economic growth and along with that, a smaller national economy. The standard of living should be decreased in several countries of the world, at least in terms of material goods. In order to ascertain that a smaller amount of goods and services would suffice for meeting the basic needs of every human being, the income distribution should be equal.

However, it is also possible to attach some environmentalist values and beliefs to the three ideologies mentioned above. Although economic liberalism supports economic growth, the growth could occur through increasing the production of services at the expense of (material) goods. Social scientists and environmental scientists have come up with ideas to use market-based approaches, instead of traditional top-down regulation, to encourage companies to reduce emissions, discharges and waste generation. These market-type mechanisms include e.g. user and pollution charges, transferable/marketable permits for allocating and managing limited-supply public goods such as greenhouse gas emissions, and green finance which integrates environmental protection with company profits.

Besides, it is possible to attach some environmentalist values and beliefs to economic nationalism and socialism, too. The interests of the environment are not necessarily irreconcilable with those of the nation, state or working class.

Social ideologies – concise definitions

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Social conservatism

The term conservatism refers to the verb ”conserve” in the sense of maintaining a certain state of affairs. There have been different kinds of conservatism during the history, and there are different kinds of conservatism in the world still today. I have had to make some choices when defining the concept of social conservatism. Here is what I understand with the term at the beginning of the 21st century.

Social conservatism is a set values, norms and beliefs concerning the social system of society. An important, though not necessary part of conservatism are religion and religiosity. It is believed that there is a god (or a number of gods), that the god is able to do many things (or even everything) and perhaps that the god does positive things for human beings. The religious community and the formal organizations of the community, led by priests, are regarded as important.

Another significant part of social conservatism is family-centredness. Adult people should marry, have children and look after their offspring. The responsibility for raising children lies with the parents (and perhaps also with the extended family and the religious community), and not with a political collective or the state. Social conservatism is paternalistic: the husband (or perhaps the father of the husband) is seen as the head of family. Sex should take place within marriage only, and erotic artefacts should be kept out of the public space or forbidden totally. Sexual and gender minorities and/or their rights are not recognized. Women are in a subordinate position in relation to men, and not only in family but also in scientific, educational and artistic organizations. Women should be excluded from some professions and social activities altogether.

When social conservatism concerns a nation, the ideology covers the faith in national identity and national unity. Outsiders, especially those who differ significantly from the members of one’s own nation, are regarded as potential threats to one’s way of thinking and way of life.

Generally speaking, social conservatism often advocates slow changes, instead of abrupt changes or structural upheavals in the social system. The goals, actions and structure (rules and distribution of resources) of social organizations should evolve slowly so that people have time to adapt. However, this is not always the case. In some schools of conservatism abrupt changes are viewed in a positive way if they contribute to transforming the social system to an ideal state in which it was in the past (whether in real life or in one’s mind).

Social liberalism

In this article social liberalism means an ideology which accentuates individuals and their freedoms and responsibilities, instead of collectives and their authority. Liberalism covers the values of freedom of thought, speech, the media and religion. It also includes the beliefs that scientific, artistic, sports and other social activities should be practised freely without interference from the state or political or religious collectives.

As for family life, sexual relations between people, and the roles of women in social organizations, some of the liberal bourgeois thinkers of the 19th century and early 20th century had rather conservative values and beliefs. Social liberalism in the 21st century still recognizes the significance of family, even nuclear family, but gives people the right to found the type of family they want and the right not to found a family at all. Adult people are allowed to engage in consensual sexual activities as they like in private environments (as long as children are not exposed) and erotic artefacts are allowed in the public space. All people, irrespective of their sex or gender, skin colour, and other physical and psychological characteristics should have equal chances to pursue their interests in the organizations of the social system. To end with, social liberalism includes beliefs in human reason, education, science and technological progress as factors promoting the well-being of people.

Socialism

Socialism differs from both social conservatism and liberalism, but has also some shared elements with its competitors. In Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist ideology religions are rather irrelevant, and whether gods and religious communities exist or not, they should not affect the goals and actions of people and the structures of social organizations. Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism is more of a politico-economic than a social ideology. It is quite difficult for me to construct a concise model of socialism relating to family life, sexual relations between people and the roles of women. What I can say is that the states which implemented Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist ideology in Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th centrury encouraged people to marry a person of the opposite sex. Sexual and gender minorities were often discriminated against. These are features shared with social conservatism. On the other hand, in socialist ideology women have the same rights and responsibilities as men, like in modern liberalism. What unites socialism with liberalism are also the beliefs in human reason, education, science and technological progress. What differentiates socialism, at least Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism from liberalism, is the belief in hierarchical structures of the organizations of the social system. For example, socialists prefer an education system in which schools are owned and controlled by the public sector (the state, provinces and municipalities) to a system in which private companies, groups of families or a religious community would own schools.

Political ideologies – concise definitions

I shall define here three political ideologies – political conservatism, political liberalism and socialism – in terms of three factors: 1) how wide the access of people to political decision-making and the state should be, 2) to what extent should decisions be made through the state and 3) what are the values, norms and beliefs on which decisions should be made.

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Political conservatism

Concerning the point 1), I understand political conservatism as an ideology which restricts the access of people to political decision-making and state organizations. Firstly, the right to run for a public office (i.e., the right to stand for election) and the right to be nominated as a civil servant should be reserved for adult citizens or for the adult members of a nation. Not any adult person living in the geographic area controlled by the state could apply for jobs in state or regional or municipal organizations. Preferably the right to run for an office should be reserved for men. In the ideal state of affairs only property-owning men with the right values and beliefs could have positions in state and other organizations.

Secondly, political conservatism postulates that only adult citizens or adult members of a nation may vote. Preferably suffrage should be limited to men, and in the ideal state of affairs only property-owning men with the right values and beliefs could elect the leaders of the state, regions and municipalities.

Concerning the point 2) - to what extent should decisions be made through the state – the conservative view may differ from society to society depending on A) what kind of goals, behaviour, actions, and rules prevail, and how resources are distributed currently (what is the state of affairs in society), B) what kind of policies the state is making at the moment and C) which social ideology and which economic ideology the proponents of political conservatism support.

As for A), if society is to a great extent structured in the way political conservatives want, the state should not assume new functions or expand its old functions. Some fine-tuning could be possible. As for B), if the current policies run against the preferred state of affairs, they will be challenged. On the other hand, if the current policies are beneficial for the preferred state of affairs, political conservatives want to maintain them. As for C), see below (point 3).

Considering the point 3) ) - on which values, norms and beliefs should decisions be made - the situation may differ from society to society. People who call themselves political conservatives want most likely to advance and implement socially conservative values and beliefs, but it is possible that they support some socialist or liberal views concerning the social system. As for the economy, political conservatives want most likely to advance and implement economic nationalism, but not necessarily. It is possible that they promote some elements of economic liberalism (like market allocation and private ownership of enterprises) or socialism (central planning and state ownership of enterprises).

Political liberalism

Political liberalism is an ideology which accentuates the rights and freedoms of individuals. As for access to political decision-making (point 1 described above), every adult citizen should be able to run for a public office (at least those people with a clean criminal record) and be able to vote in elections. Every person has one and only one vote. There is no discrimination in terms of wealth, social status, sex, gender or other factors. These are the core principles of democracy. In total/universal liberalism these rights are not limited to adult citizens but are granted to all adult people who reside in the geographic area in question.

Political liberalism covers the following values: freedom of thought, speech, assembly and of the media (media may freely publish news concerning political decision-making and decision-makers as long as they are true), freedom to establish and join in political parties and lobbying organizations, and the freedom not to join in any party or other organization.

Political liberalism includes also the belief in rule of law. Rule of law (“oikeusvaltio” in Finnish, “Rechtsstaat” in German) means that people rule other people through laws and regulations, not arbitrarily, and that the courts of justice function as independently from the executive & legislative branches of the state, political parties and private organizations as possible.

As for the point 2) to what extent should decisions be made through the state, the classical liberal view is: to a small extent only. Liberals prefer decision-making within society to decision-making in the state or through the state. The state should take care of national defence, courts of justice and police, and enact core legislation such as criminal and contract law. It should also carry out some policies concerning the economy and the social system, such as monetary policy to contain inflation, moderate fiscal policy to gather finance for necessary state activities, and provide some social welfare for the poor who cannot take care of themselves. It has to be pointed out that political liberalism does not mean anarchism. The state is a necessity for liberals. But the scope of its actions should be limited.

However, in a situation where the economy is structured in a socialist or nationalist way, political liberals could support more interventionist economic policies if these policies lead to marketization, privatization and deregulation of the economy. So, instead of laissez-faire policy (passive or no policy) there would active, substantial policies to change the structures of economy.

Point 3) ) - on which values, norms and beliefs should decisions be made. As for the social system of society, political liberals want most likely to advance and implement socially liberal values and beliefs, but not necessarily. It is possible that a person has socially conservative characteristics, e.g. is nationalistic and patriarchal, but wants to promote these views in a democratic way, and is ready to accept his/her possible defeat in the political competition. It is also possible that a person has some socialist traits (not Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist, though) and wants to promote these views in a democratic way, and is ready to accept his/her possible defeat in the political competition.

As for the economy, political liberals want most likely to advance and implement economic liberalism, but not necessarily. It is possible that they promote economic nationalism (at least some parts of it) or social democratic ideas concerning the economy (but not Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist ideas).

Political socialism

I will first deal with Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism and then write a few words about social democratic ideology. As for the question 1) - how wide the access of people to political decision-making should be – in Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism only the working class, or more specifically the vanguard of workers, should have the right to run for a public office and the right to vote in elections. The members of nobility and bourgeoisie should not lead any state organizations nor should they be able to vote.

In Leninist and Stalinist thinking the state should be led by one party, the communist party. In Polish People’s Republic from 1947 to 1989 there were two satellite parties (Democratic Alliance [SD] and United People’s Party [ZSL]), but their significance was limited. In Soviet Union and elsewhere, the leaders of the communist party decided to a great extent which persons could run for offices and which not, and the representatives of the party who were placed in all state organizations and enterprises told voters whom to vote.

Concerning the point 2) - to what extent should decisions be made through the state – Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism believes in centralized decision-making and in wide and detailed state interventions in all subsystems of society. There should be a large number of economic and other policies and regulations affecting the economic, social and political behaviour and actions of people.

Concerning the point 3) - what are the values, norms and beliefs on which decisions should be made – Marxist-Leninist-Stalinists base their political decisions on Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist economic and social values described above.

According to Marxism-Leninism the working class has the right to make a revolution (“vallankumous” in Finnish) and replace the bourgeoisie in the leadership of the state and carry out wide-ranging socioeconomic changes. In imperial Russia the communists staged a coup d’état (a stroke or blow to the existing rulers and structures of the state – “vallankaappaus” in Finnish) in 1917. However, they did not replace bourgeois but mainly aristocratic men as leaders. The communists carried out a real economic revolution by socializing private property, especially means of production from their owners, but this was not done on a capitalist economy but a semi-feudal economy where aristocrats had plenty of resources and power beside the bourgeoisie (which, according to Marx, was the leading class in capitalism).

In social democratic thinking the answer to point 1) - how wide the access of people to political decision-making should be - differs from Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism. Social democrats of the late 20th century and early 21st century do not want to restrict the right to run for an office or the right to vote. Democratic socialists grant these rights to all adult citizens. There are some social democrats who would like to extend these rights, at least suffrage, to all adult people who live in the geographical area controlled by the state. That means, citizenship or a certain nationality are not necessary conditions for participating in political decision-making. In this regard social democrats look very much like political liberals.

As for the point 2) - to what extent should decisions be made through the state – the social democratic view varies from society to society, and within societies, too. Some social democrats share Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist belief in centralized decision-making and in wide and detailed state interventions, and the view that there should be a large number of policies and regulations affecting the economic, social and political behaviour and actions of people. On the other hand, some social democrats are more liberal and want to focus on developing or maintaining the welfare state (public welfare and health services, social income transfers), and dislike socializing private companies or disrupting the market mechanism in most industry sectors. What unites all democratic socialists is the belief that policies can be made only with the support of majority of society or majority of voters.

Concerning the point 3) - what are the values, norms and beliefs on which decisions should be made – the social democratic view varies from society to society and within societies, too. As already implied above, some social democrats have the same economic values, norms and beliefs as Marxists do. Some, on the other hand, stand somewhere between socialist and liberal ideologies, and regard private ownership of most means of production as a good thing, and may also allow for market allocation in some industry sectors. As for social values, there are people who call themselves social democrats and believe in liberal values and norms.

Some sources:

Schatzki, Theodore R. (1990): Do social structures govern action? Midwest Studies in Philosophy, vol XV. The philosophy of human sciences. Editors: Peter A. French and others.

Scott, William (1965): Empirical assessment of values and ideologies. Human behavior and international politics. Editor: J. David Singer. Rand McNally & Company, Chicago. Pages 113-122.

Smelser, Neil J. (1967): Theory of collective behavior. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.