Yes. It certainly can be. It is also a social system. It helps to try to not get too married to one particular definition of pretty much anything. Like many things, socialism exists as a range of things.
Socialism as a social system is not incompatible with capitalism because social ownership of equity is simply not required. Progress can take place without flipping the game board over and starting from scratch. It can be enough to enact social programs and the state and federal level without throwing the baby out with the bathwater and attempting to replace our economic system with social ownership of private interest.
Take the government of the good ol’ U.S.A. for example. This is a government by for and of the people. In other words, it’s a socialistic government. If we understand that, we can move forward and the people can decide that the government can be a tool for progressive and positive social change without any changes to our economic system.
