Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

28.10.08 18:51ParEcon Tomorrows EconomySeite 1 von 20http://books.zcommunications.org/books/pareconv/Intro.htm#_VPID_1

Back to ZNetBack to Parecon: Life After Capitalism Book PageBuy Parecon: Life After Capitalism in print

Introduction

Most everybody I see knows the truthbut they just don’t know that they know it.— Woody Guthrie

The British Victorian liberal thinker John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) tells us that we ...

are not charmed with the ideal of life held out by thosewho think that the normal state of human beings is thatof struggling to get on; that the trampling, crushing,elbowing, and treading on each other’s heels which formthe existing type of social life are the most desirable lotof human beings.

The American social critic Noam Chomsky says he ...

would like to believe that people have an instinct forfreedom, that they really want to control their ownaffairs. They don’t want to be pushed around, ordered,oppressed, etc., and they want a chance to do things thatmake sense like constructive work in a way that theycontrol, or maybe control together with others.

If “trampling, crushing, elbowing, and treading” are not the “most desirable lot” for humanity, what is? If humanityshould not aspire to create an elite minority joyfully dancingatop a suffocating mountainous majority, what should weaspire to? If the instinct to not be “pushed around, ordered,oppressed” and to do “constructive work in a way that [we]control” deserves exploring, where should we begin?The United States has about 3 percent of the world’spopulation yet does nearly half the world’s consuming.Within the US, about 2 percent of the population own 60percent of the wealth. Other developed nations are similarlyunequal. Less developed countries suffer broadly the same

28.10.08 18:51ParEcon Tomorrows EconomySeite 2 von 20http://books.zcommunications.org/books/pareconv/Intro.htm#_VPID_1

internal distribution, though there the richest are lesswealthy and the poorest are more destitute.Indignity, disempowerment, and hunger accompanycapitalism worldwide. No one sensibly denies this, yet evenamong those who despise capitalism, most fear thatsuffering would increase without it. While some certainlyfind capitalism odious, few celebrate an alternative andthose who do generally favor “market socialism,” “centrallyplanned socialism,” or “green bioregionalism.” In contrast,this book rejects capitalism but also the typically favoredalternatives. The English humanist William Morris (1834-1896) ...

[sought] a condition of society in which there should beneither rich nor poor, neither master nor master’s man,neither idle nor overworked, neither brain-sick brainworkers nor heartsick hand workers, in a word, in whichall would be living in equality of condition and wouldmanage their affairs unwastefully, and with the fullconsciousness that harm to one would mean harm to all—the realization at last of the meaning of the wordcommonwealth.

But how can we undertake economics to usher in Morris’s “common- wealth”? How do we reward and ennoble work?How do we enrich consumption and make it moreequitable? How do we make allocation just and efficient?Can we enjoy efficiency, justice, democracy, and integritysimultaneously?Part I of this book discusses economic values andinstitutions. part II describes participatory economics andargues its benefits. part III explores daily life implications of a participatory economy. part IV rebuts plausible worries.First, we briefly address how economic vision relates toanti-corporate globalization and other economic aimsgarnering support around the world.

Parecon and Globalization

Anti-corporate globalization activists favor sympathetic andmutually beneficial global ties to advance equity, solidarity,diversity, and self-management. Globalize equity not

28.10.08 18:51ParEcon Tomorrows EconomySeite 3 von 20http://books.zcommunications.org/books/pareconv/Intro.htm#_VPID_1

poverty. Globalize solidarity not greed. Globalize diversitynot conformity. Globalize democracy not subordination.Globalize sustainability not rapaciousness. Two questionsarise.Why do these aspirations cause anti-corporateglobalization activists to be critical of corporateglobalization?What new institutions do anti-corporate globalizationactivists propose to do a better job than those thatnow exist?

Rejecting Capitalist Globalization

Current international market trading overwhelminglybenefits those who enter exchanges already possessing themost assets. When trade occurs between a US multinationaland a local entity in Mexico, Nigeria, or Thailand, the tradedoesn’t provide greater benefit to the weaker party that hasfewer assets, nor are the benefits divided equally. Rather,benefits go disproportionately to the stronger traders whothereby increase their relative dominance.Opportunist rhetoric aside, capitalist globalization’s flow of resources, assets, outputs, cash, capital, and harmful by-products primarily further empowers the already powerfuland further enriches the already rich at the expense of theweak and poor. The result is that at the turn of the twenty-first century of the 100 largest economies in the world,almost exactly half are not countries but are private, profit-seeking corporations.Similarly, market competition for resources, revenues, andaudience is nearly always a zero-sum game. Each actoradvances at the expense of others so that capitalistglobalization promotes a self-interested “me-first” logic thatgenerates hostility and destroys solidarity between actors.This dynamic occurs from individuals through industries andstates. Collectively beneficial public and social goods likeparks, health-care, education, and social infra- structureare downplayed while individually enjoyed private goods areprioritized. Businesses and nations augment their own

of 00

Parecon - Life After Capitalism

Participatory economics, often abbreviated parecon, is a proposed economic system that uses participatory decision making as an economic mechanism to guide the production, consu... (More)

974 Reads

Info and Rating