Socialism

To be honest, I don't really have a solid understanding of socialism. At all. I haven't spent that much time researching it, but it interests me. I think because I hear it's name being used so often, in many different conversations. Some positive, many negative.

I Bernie Sanders totally claims the label "socialist". I also know, from the little research I've done, that the popularity of democratic socialist groups have gone up significantly since our last election. Yet, so many have absolutely no idea what socialism really means. Like me. And like these college kids:

https://youtu.be/YMxTEZ7Jiz (This makes me laugh)

Socialist. I've found that people tend to use the term extremely and sometimes negatively. It falls on the left of the political spectrum. And, it's actually viewed positively. Especially, by young people. Yet it is still called anti-American by many. Is the ideology of socialism a bit misconstrued by the right? Or, is their hatred for it solely based on the fact that it is completely opposed to their views?

Socialism, in my own definition (so it might not be completely accurate), is the belief or theory that a whole society should own and control the production of goods and services. Socialists want the benefits of a state's production to be distributed to all of the people, as opposed to them going to individual or corporate ownership. That is the most that I have understood thus far. It makes sense that many people would like this system. It creates a platform of some type of "equality", as it favors the distribution of wealth. It also makes sense that many do not like it. It's not capitalism.

But honestly, I don't know much about socialism.