Every politically charged term ends up having highly disputed definitions, but I think most of those will acknowledge that the term has way more baggage than just the idea of taking care of yourselves and neighbors.

From Wikipedia:

Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems[1] characterised by social ownership of the means of production,[2] as opposed to private ownership.[3][4][5] It describes the economic, political, and social theories and movements associated with the implementation of such systems.

It represents a whole set of beliefs about how the world works, in addition to political goals. Someone might broadly agree with the idea that people should be taken care of, but have strong objections about the specifics. One of those beliefs that I'll object to is the idea that just about everything should be understood as being about class conflict; I don't think that's always accurate.

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Personally, I think it isn't just class conflict that is at issue. IMO, a major problem with current economies and their understanding, is that they are built from inherited knowledge, wealth, and institutions.

They aren't deliberate systems, they are more like evolution: No planning, just inherited features from whatever came before. So long as those features don't prevent the animal from having offspring, evolution doesn't care. This can result in wonderful, confused, or niche creatures that are on their way to extinction. So the same goes for our economics.

To escape this state of affairs, we need to make deliberately constructed economies. I not saying a 'planned economy' like the Soviets or Chinese 5-year plans, but rather how each aspect of an economy interacts with other pieces. Like a tabletop RPG ruleset, where the specifics exist to facilitate the complexities that can arise. By specifying each element, we can create floors and ceilings for what any given action can do, which in turn makes it harder for the players to meta-game their way to dictating how everything goes.

To sum up: economic regulations, but as a clean sheet design and implementation.