Utopia by Thomas More

From the set of attributes that Thomas More employs to describe Utopia, the most likely to be the target of significant social critique is that of communal property. Indeed, the issue of property was a major tenant in the development of British law -- and ultimately, in systems of law established in many other lands. Moreover, property ownership has been a key point of departure with regard to the demarcations of economic and political difference in 20th and 21st century. The tension between the social nature of production and the private accumulation of wealth is an enduring and common thread of puzzlement to rational beings, for which no universally satisfactory remedy has been devised.

It is no longer possible to argue that one approach or the other to dealing with issues of property -- say, capitalism or socialism -- produces superior economic results at the macroeconomic...
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