The Soul of Man Under Socialism

[4] Wilde advocated socialism, which, he argued, "will be of value simply because it will lead to individualism" and "substituting co-operation for competition, will restore society to its proper condition of a thoroughly healthy organism, and ensure material well being for each member of the community.

"[5] Juliet Jacques has noted that the essay does not make any suggestions regarding political action to bring about socialism: rather it discusses the possible life of artists in a hypothetical socialist society in which private property had been abolished.

For what it seeks to disturb is monotony of type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level of a machine.

"[5] He observed that in contemporary Victorian capitalist society, a small minority of men such as Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Browning, Charles Baudelaire and Victor Hugo "have been able to realise their personality more or less completely" because they had access to private wealth and therefore had no need to engage in wage labour.

"[3] In this way socialism, in Wilde's imagination, would free men from manual labour and allow them to devote their time to creative pursuits, thus developing their soul.

[9] For anarchist historian George Woodcock, "Wilde's aim in 'The Soul of Man Under Socialism' is to seek the society most favorable to the artist.

[10] Political philosopher Slavoj Žižek shares Wildean sentiments and intellectual contempt for charity, noting that the problem of poverty will never be solved simply by keeping poor people alive, quoting the relevant passages from Wilde's essay in his lectures[11] and book.