Conversation SCMQ13: Social or Socialism

“When masses of people who own the means of production work toward a common goal and share their products in common, when they contribute labor without wages and enjoy the fruits free of charge, it’s not unreasonable to call that socialism.” — “The New Socialism,” by Kevin Kelly, Wired.

This article prompted much conversation when it was published in May, which led the editorial board to this week’s question. However, when we asked point-blank whether Social Media was indeed the new Socialism, most SMC readers noted more differences than true parallels:

“It isn’t the new socialism. If anything, it’s the new expression of liberty — commented Allen Taylor on our blog.

“I think that politics of the internet are – and have always been – closer to pure Anarchism than anything else. Socialism is mandatory, and based on coercion. Therefore, the analogy to the Net instantly falls apart.” —Alex

“Socialism’s hallmark is government control of industry and other aspects of society. Our government would have to be in control of our activities and dictate them to some extent. In fact, social media’s ability to connect people for collaboration outside of the reach of government’s tentacles makes social media anti-socialist,” —Shaine Mata

@matt_j_kendall: “With no allegiance to state or market, could it b a 3rd way? ”

And some posed that it perhaps wasn’t completely relevant to even bring political labels into the conversation:

“If my research showed me anything, it’s that the word itself—no matter how accurate or inaccurate—is too charged to be of much use to us in this context.” — Kimberly Turner wrote on Regator. Kimberly  also conducted a slew of research tagged on Delicious that you may want to read. We’ll be fielding calls to further discuss Social-or-Socialism, this Saturday, June 13, 10am PST on BlogTalk Radio. We invite you to listen, and call in, and share your thoughts.