سوسیالیسم فلسفه سنگینیگنگی است؛<ref>دو تعریف از سوسیالیسم& [[هال دریپر]] ص۲(مقدمه:مفهوم سوسیالیسم)</ref> و مفهوم آن سخت قابل فهم است، اما می‌توان گفت وجه اشتراک در این طیف اعتقاد بر انسجام همگانی از جمله بر روی ابزار تولید و اقتصاد، و مسائل اجتماعی و سیاسی است، که باعث شکل‌گیری [[خودمختاری|دولت‌های خودمختار]] و [[کشور ایالاتی]] (جماهیر) است، گاهی اختلاف بر سر قدرت مرکزی و عملی کردن انسجام همگانی است؛<ref>Arnold, Scott (1994). The Philosophy and Economics of Market Socialism: A Critical Study. Oxford University Press. pp. 7–8. <nowiki>ISBN 978-0-19-508827-4</nowiki>. This term is harder to define, since socialists disagree among themselves about what socialism 'really is.' It would seem that everyone (socialists and nonsocialists alike) could at least agree that it is not a system in which there is widespread private ownership of the means of production…To be a socialist is not just to believe in certain ends, goals, values, or ideals. It also requires a belief in a certain institutional means to achieve those ends; whatever that may mean in positive terms, it certainly presupposes, at a minimum, the belief that these ends and values cannot be achieved in an economic system in which there is widespread private ownership of the means of production…Those who favor socialism generally speak of social ownership, social control, or socialization of the means of production as the distinctive positive feature of a socialist economic system</ref><ref>Hastings, Mason and Pyper, Adrian, Alistair and Hugh (21 December 2000). The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought. Oxford University Press. p. 677. <nowiki>ISBN 978-0-19-860024-4</nowiki>. Socialists have always recognized that there are many possible forms of social ownership of which co-operative ownership is one...Nevertheless, socialism has throughout its history been inseparable from some form of common ownership. By its very nature it involves the abolition of private ownership of capital; bringing the means of production, distribution, and exchange into public ownership and control is central to its philosophy. It is difficult to see how it can survive, in theory or practice, without this central idea.</ref><ref>Busky, Donald F. (2000). Democratic Socialism: A Global Survey. Praeger. p. 2. <nowiki>ISBN 978-0-275-96886-1</nowiki>. Socialism may be defined as movements for social ownership and control of the economy. It is this idea that is the common element found in the many forms of socialism.</ref> امروزه یکی از مشکلات اساسی سوسیالیسم اختلاف بر مفهوم آن است افراد و احزاب زیادی خود را سوسیالیسم می‌دانند و با نام سوسیالیسم سعی بر نشان دادن اعتقاد به مفهوم انسجام دارند، اما مفهوم سوسیالیسم بین آن‌ها متفاوت است، در بعضی مواقع حتی ضد [[مالکیت خصوصی]] هم مورد قبول همه نیست.<ref>دو تعریف از سوسیالیسم& [[هال دریپر]] ص۲ (مقدمه:مفهوم سوسیالیسم)</ref>
