[2] The terms "anarchism" and "libertarianism" represent broad political ideologies with multiple historical and contemporary meanings.
[8] Other complicating factors in defining "anarchism" include disagreement over its status as a political ideology and contention over the term's historical usage.
[11] While the term "libertarian" has been largely synonymous with anarchism,[b] its meaning has more recently diluted with wider adoption from ideologically disparate groups.
[11] For example, "libertarians" include both the New Left Marxists (who do not associate with authoritarian socialists or a vanguard party) and extreme liberals (primarily concerned with civil liberties).
[12] In the late 1800s, prominent anarchist Peter Kropotkin noted the popular connotations of "anarchy" as a synonym for chaos and disorder, and thus a disadvantageous name for a movement.
[12] As a result of anarchy's dual definitions, the idea of a society without central authority is endemically conflated with chaos, hampering one's ability to conceive of the former positively.
[15] Popular use of anarchist symbols have also affected the connotations of the term divorced from its theoretical background and history as a movement.
The influence of anarchism in 20th-century punk subcultures led to anarchy and the circle-A symbol as a trope in the music and fashion industries to represent teen angst and shallow, youthful rebellion.
[20] Those who seek both economic and social liberty would be known as classical "liberals", but that term developed associations opposite of the limited government, low-taxation, minimal state advocated by the movement.
[22] In the 19th century, "anarchism" and "socialism" were used interchangeably, both treated as similar threats to sociopolitical order despite their differences in views towards the state.
Generally, libertarian socialism expands to include classical anarchism, council communism, Italian autonomists, and the Marxism of Luxemburg, Mattick, and Gramsci.
[28] The Russian anti-authoritarian Mikhail Bakunin argued that the International was an authoritarian organization controlled by Karl Marx, a German.
Historically, libertarians including Herbert Spencer and Max Stirner supported the protection of an individual's freedom from powers of government and private ownership.
[31] In contrast, modern American libertarians support freedoms on the basis of their agreement with private property rights.
[d] Anarchism, according to historian Peter Marshall, exists outside standards of political theory because its aims are not based on the struggle for power within the state.
McLaughlin, who examines under a philosophical scope, claims that anti-authoritarianism is a conclusion of anarchist thought, not an a priori statement, therefore it can not be used as a definition.