[lbo-talk] How would democratic ownership and control move us towards serving human needs?

[Rick]

I keep wondering about a very basic question in political economy that 
I'm sure has been answered a million times but I keep forgetting the 
answer: if our goal is a society that serves human needs rather than 
profits, how exactly would changing the mode of ownership from private 
to public/community/worker accomplish that?  It seems that a society 
based on democratic ownership might not necessarily escape the nexus of 
capital accumulation, profit above all else, highest return on 
investment, etc.  Conceptualizations of "a system based on private 
ownership of the means of production" and "a system based on serving 
profits rather than human needs" don't really describe the same thing, 
so why would ending the former end the latter?  How exactly would 
socialism end the dominance by the profit system and instead serve human 
needs?  It seems all it would do is change ownership relations.