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Socialism is not often defined clearly or examined closely by Marxist & other theorists who conceive it as a goal but do not examine its dynamics as they do those of other societies. Socialism is a step past the welfare state, & analysis of the welfare state is a first step to analysis of socialism. The welfare state exists to solve the problems created by capitalism's anarchic nature, & by bourgeois culture's lacks, & thus to preserve capitalism. Socialism must be a system of economic planning & of culture founded in a morally conscious collectivity; it cannot use the market without subverting itself, & tradition cannot work in guiding a changing economy. Socialist culture must be founded on aspiration not to individual material achievement, but to collective moral achievement. Such aims cannot be achieved by reform of the existing bourgeois order, but only by basic change. Lewis Coser finds the welfare state significantly different from capitalism; in addition, capitalism in the laissez-faire era was founded on moral conformity to a great degree, & socialist theorists have regularly called for increased individualization. Bogden Denitch notes Heilbroner's questioning whether democratic institutions can exist in a socialist society. Yugoslavia offers an example of the use of markets both for economic efficiency & as a means of turning economic enterprises into communities; the basing of democratic institutions on these productive communities offers a new form of democracy appropriate to socialist societies. Michael Harrington finds only two future polar extremes likely: authoritarian bureaucratic collectivism & democratic communitarian collectivism. Heilbroner recognizes the danger of socialism leading to the first, but not the opportunity to make it into the second. Michael Walzer finds capitalist individuality founded in individual isolation from wide political issues & fixation on narrowly egoistic concerns. In bourgeois society, the kind of commitment which can make genuine use of freedom is found mainly in the struggle to create socialism, & the freedom of socialist society is best understood as freedom to debate paths to socialism. In A Reply, Heilbroner notes that equality & democracy, along with individuality, are products of bourgeois society, & that their preservation under socialism is desirable, but not necessarily achievable. W. H. Stoddard.

The historical development of socialism in the USSR as a system of oppression, & in Western countries as a compromise with the existing social order, has made the terms 'socialism' & 'communism' useless. An alternative conception is that of the autonomous individual as a participant in the autonomous collectivity. The concept of autonomous society implies liberty; but the nature of that liberty must be specified. In particular, it must include equality; the concept of liberty & equality as opposed must be abandoned. Liberal concepts of liberty as based on the private individual must be abandoned in favor of concepts of liberty as participation in management of society; individuals must lead lives enabling them to perform this task effectively. The influence of Marx on the movement toward liberty has been partly beneficial & partly harmful; his concentration on capitalism's exclusive concern with production led him to disregard the political problems to be solved. As a result, the concept of 'dictatorship of the proletariat' was transformed in the USSR to a dictatorship of the state over the proletariat. What is needed is to overcome the opposition between the state & society, so that the state becomes society giving itself rules. W. H. Stoddard.