baslow finished reading How to Be an Anticapitalist in the Twenty-First Century by Erik Olin Wright
What is wrong with capitalism, and how can we change it?
Capitalism has transformed …
This is Wright's last book, written while he knew he was dying. It distills (and, in some cases, revises) the thinking presented in his earlier, somewhat more scholarly, book "Envisioning Real Utopias". Wright's goal, in this iteration, is to make his ideas more accessible and actionable to a non-academic audience. This is Wright spelling out where, in difficult times, he believes hope for the future lies.
Rather than ruptural revolution, Wright advocated a program of eroding capitalism:
"One way to challenge capitalism is to build more democratic, egalitarian, participatory economic relations where possible in the spaces and cracks within this complex system. The idea of eroding capitalism imagines that these alternatives have the potential, in the long run, to become sufficiently prominent in the lives of individuals and communities that capitalism could eventually be displaced from its dominant role in the system."
This strategy is achievable at …
This is Wright's last book, written while he knew he was dying. It distills (and, in some cases, revises) the thinking presented in his earlier, somewhat more scholarly, book "Envisioning Real Utopias". Wright's goal, in this iteration, is to make his ideas more accessible and actionable to a non-academic audience. This is Wright spelling out where, in difficult times, he believes hope for the future lies.
Rather than ruptural revolution, Wright advocated a program of eroding capitalism:
"One way to challenge capitalism is to build more democratic, egalitarian, participatory economic relations where possible in the spaces and cracks within this complex system. The idea of eroding capitalism imagines that these alternatives have the potential, in the long run, to become sufficiently prominent in the lives of individuals and communities that capitalism could eventually be displaced from its dominant role in the system."
This strategy is achievable at various paces, depending on the energies, inclinations, solidarity and commitments of those who undertake it. It allows us to adjust our lives, our thinking and our assumptions over time, to gradually leave behind the hyper-individualist, fundamentally competitive and zero-sum assumptions of the capitalism which now constitutes our reality.
The thinking in this book is the basis for much of the thinking behind the establishment of inwoodnexus.nyc