Socialism: Beyond the Myths and Fears

The concept of socialism has been debated for generations—often surrounded by controversy, confusion, and fear. In the United States, the very word “socialism” can spark strong emotions, even as many nations have adopted socialist-inspired programs with broad support.

Here at home, initiatives like Medicare and Social Security—often labeled “socialist”—remain among the most popular government programs. Others point to bailouts and subsidies for banks, corporations, farmers, and energy companies as examples of socialism benefiting different groups.

So, what exactly is socialism, and why does it provoke such anxiety? Despite its frequent use in political rhetoric, few Americans can clearly define the term.

To explore this complex and often misunderstood philosophy, the NFRPP presents a conversation with distinguished scholars Prof. Axel Honneth and Prof. Nadia Urbinati, moderated by New Republic staff writer Timothy Noah.

To RSVP for the Zoom Webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_58DAozRESVKutdnZ5Cjx2A

To watch the event on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/NFRPP/live_videos/

This event is from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm EST on November 20th, 2025

Speakers:

Axel Honneth, born in 1949, is Jack B. Weinstein Professor of the Humanities in the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University, New York. After holding professorships at the University of Konstanz and the Free University of Berlin, he taught before at Goethe University in Frankfurt, where he was director of the Institute for Social Research from 2001 to 2018. His publications in English include: The Working Sovereign, 2024; The Idea of Socialism, 2015, Freedom’s Right. The Social Foundations of Democratic Life, 2014; The Struggle for Recognition, 1994.

(photo attribution: SPÖ Presse und Kommunikation, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Nadia Urbinati is the Kyriakos Tsakopoulos Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. She is the author of several books, including Democracy Disfigured: Opinion, Truth, and the People (Harvard); The Tyranny of the Moderns; Representative Democracy: Principles and Genealogy; and Mill on Democracy: From the Athenian Polis to Representative Government, which won the David and Elaine Spitz Prize for the best book in democratic theory.

Timothy Noah, moderator, is a staff writer for the New Republic and maintains the Substack newsletter Backbencher. Previously he was a Washington-based reporter for the Wall Street Journal, a labor-policy editor for Politico, and an editor of the Washington Monthly, where he remains a contributing editor. He is the author of “The Great Divergence: America’s Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It” (Bloomsbury, 2012).