Ideology
Distributism
An economic outlook, rooted in Catholic social teaching, that wants productive property such as land and tools widely spread among families and local groups rather than concentrated in large corporations or the state.
Core ideas
- Productive assets should be widely owned instead of concentrated.
- Laissez-faire capitalism and state socialism are both flawed because each concentrates ownership.
- Small independent craftsmen and producers are preferred; where not feasible, cooperatives and mutual organizations.
- Strong anti-trust rules should restrain overweening economic power.
- Economic life should serve family, community and spiritual life.
Where it sits on the 12 axes
The economy value is mildly toward Collectivize (econ 60 on Collectivize/Privatize), the government value is neutral (govt 50 on Security/Freedom) and so is diplomacy (dipl 50 on Internationalism/Nationalism). Society leans toward Traditional (scty 30 on Progressive/Traditional), matching its roots in religious social teaching. The match is made only on the distance across these four axes, so a nearby ideology can win even if you have never heard of this one.
The bar shows the position on each of the four axes an ideology is matched on; the middle mark is the centre.
History
It developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from Catholic social teaching, above all Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum of 1891, which defended private property and the aim that as many people as possible become owners. Pope Pius XI's Quadragesimo anno followed in 1931. Around 1900 G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc drew the experience of cooperatives and friendly societies in northern Europe into a coherent theory. In the 1930s their essays appeared in The American Review. Chesterton's Outline of Sanity and Belloc's The Servile State are key works. It has influenced Christian democratic movements and the social market economy.
Associated thinkers
- G. K. Chesterton
- Hilaire Belloc
Common misunderstandings
- It is not socialism and not a halfway house between capitalism and socialism. It wants private property, but spread widely, and treats socialism and capitalism as the same problem of concentration.
- It is not the same as Christian democracy. It is an economic theory; Christian democracy is a political tradition that it has influenced.
Related ideologies
Is Distributism your closest ideology?
Take the test and see which of the ideologies your answers sit closest to.
Questions
What is Distributism?
An economic theory holding that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. It grew from Catholic social teaching and favors small producers, cooperatives and member-owned organizations.
Is Distributism left or right?
Neither by its own account. It criticizes both laissez-faire capitalism and state socialism, which is why this site files it under other. Its stress on property and tradition and its criticism of big capital make a single axis misleading.
Distributism vs socialism?
Socialism puts means of production under common or state ownership. This tradition wants them privately owned by as many families and local groups as possible, and sees state socialism as another form of concentrated ownership.
How does the 12 Axes test decide I am Distributism?
It computes the distance between your scores on the economy, government, diplomacy and society axes and each ideology's stored values. The ideology with the smallest distance is reported.