What do you consider to be the defining elements of a socialist outlook?

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What Do You Consider to be the Defining Elements of a Socialist Outlook?

As an ideology, socialism has many elements to it. However, not many of these can be considered defining elements to a socialist outlook. Socialism contains multiple different schools of thought: state socialism, social democracy and the third way; many elements of socialism will not apply to certain strands of the ideology. One could argue that to be seen as 'defining' an element has to be relevant to all major strands of socialism, as it has to represent the ideology as a whole.

Socialism is a broad ideology that encompasses many varied independent political strands; however, despite this there are several elements that can be identified as being central, or even defining, to a socialist outlook. A defining element can be seen as being a shared belief or value, common to all strands of socialism, which represents the ideology and can also be used to separate it from others. Elements of socialism can be seen to include: a belief in equality, community, opposition to capitalism, common ownership and democracy. As socialism is comprised of multiple strands, these elements will have different weighting in each strand;