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Template slot
Political Ideas

Socialism

Strands: Revolutionary socialism, Social democracy, Third Way.

Assessed in
Paper 1, Section B
Specification sections
3
Key terms
13
Set thinkers
5

Specification requirements

  • Core ideas and principlesSpecification requirement
    • •Collectivism, common humanity, equality, social class and workers’ control
  • Differing views and tensionsSpecification requirement
    • •Revolutionary socialism, social democracy and the Third Way
  • Socialist thinkers and their ideasSpecification requirement
    • •Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Beatrice Webb, Rosa Luxemburg, Anthony Crosland and Anthony Giddens

Source to checkParaphrased from Pearson’s A level Politics specification, Issue 4 (first teaching September 2026, first assessment June 2028). Requirement detail is entered as each topic is developed.

Current affairs

Socialism

Passenger railway services return to public ownership

The policy brings common ownership, a core socialist idea in the specification, into contemporary debate. It is useful for comparing how different strands of socialism, and other ideologies, see the role of the state in the economy.

28 November 2024 (became law) · Legislation · DevelopingApproved

Current affairsEach card is a single shared record, linked here by its specification references.Open this topic in Current Affairs

Sources

2 sources cited on this pageShowHide
  1. 1A level Politics specification, Issue 4
    Pearson Edexcel · 2026 · Specification    Opened 4 November 2026
  2. 2Edexcel AS and A level Politics specification amendments
    Pearson · 22 June 2026 · Specification    Opened 4 November 2026