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Chargement... Realizing Hope: Life beyond Capitalism (édition 2006)par Michael Albert
Information sur l'oeuvreRealizing Hope: Life beyond Capitalism par Michael Albert
   Aucun Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre.   LarkinPubs | Mar 1, 2023 |  However, this book is rather disappointing on both fronts. Though I agree with a lot of the views of Parecon at least as a form of society to work towards, he gives absolutely no additional practical guidelines or information on how to achieve it, making the undertaking look rather more than less utopian after reading this work. The various chapters discuss how different aspects of our current society (sports, science, foreign policy) would look in a Parecon society, and these are aspects that are too often ignored by socialist theorists, so Albert does well to write about them specifically. But all he ever says is basically "under Parecon, we wouldn't have these problems, since Parecon would be egalitarian and democratic". That is not what we want to know - what we want to know is how to get there, and what specific measures in the short and even medium run would be a way to achieve such social relations. Moreover, a lot of Parecon's weaknesses are not at all defended here, such as Albert's vision of having all production organized by workers' councils. While I agree with that basic idea, Albert in no way explains how this would work practically, in particular considering the absurd amount of information the different councils would have to work with and the huge amount of procedures necessary, because of Albert's stipulation that everyone in some way affected by something must have a say. What Albert does not seem to realize at all is that the combination of his totally bottom-up approach with the requirement of involving anyone in any way affected would lead either to a massive bureaucracy for every-day decisions and a lot of coordination failures, OR, and I think this is more likely, it would lead to a national or international level larger council making most of the economy-wide decisions top-down for coordination and efficiency's sake. In effect, this would end up precisely like the traditional Marxist view of social organization, which he refuses to admit. Additionally, the chapter containing his critique of Marxism mostly consists of strawmen reasonings or refusing to take things in context, and is wholly unconvincing. His critique of class reasoning was refuted by Marx himself ages ago and adds nothing new to the discussion, whereas his pointing out of the negative effects of 'democratic centralism' in practice is fair, but much less significant than he makes it to be, in particular considering my above conclusions. Overall, I do think Albert's view has a lot going for it, and his Parecon society is probably the kind of thing we as left radical people want to work towards. Also, his theory of the coordinator class, albeit not wholly as original as he seems to imply, is important to take into account and a quite useful tool for analysis. But Albert has not used the opportunity of this book to improve his defense of the practical issues with Pareconism as it stands, and I have issues with a lot of his theoretical analysis. It would be better if there could be a synthesis of views between Albert (and Hahnel)'s Pareconism and the traditional Marxist views (Leninist or otherwise), since a lot can be learned from both. But this book does not convince me to support Pareconism as it is now. (  ) McCaine | Nov 21, 2007 |
'In many earlier studies, Michael Albert has carried out careful in- depth inquiries into systems of participatory economics (parecon), analyzing in detail how they can function justly, equitably, and efficiently, and how they can overcome many of the criminal features of current social and economic arrangements. This new and very ambitious study casts the net far more widely, extending to just about every major domain of human concern and mode of human interaction, and investigating with care and insight how, in these domains, parecon-like principles could lead to a far more desirable society than anything that exists, and also how these goals can be constructively approached. It is another very valuable and provocative contribution to the quest for a world of much greater freedom and justice.' - Noam Chomsky 'Michael Albert is a very serious thinker. In Realizing Hope he not only presents an alternative to capitalism, he provides profound insights into how economics affects personalities and social relations and vice versa. The book opens many doors for social vision and strategy. At a moment when Africa needs an alternative to nationalist politics. Realizing Hope is amazingly timely. Pan-Africanists and Black Marxists alike will find much to enrich and expand our politics in this book.' - Mandisi Majavu 'During the grim decades of ?there is no alternative,? few did more than Michael Albert and his collaborators to promote discussion of alternatives to domination by either state or market. Now, when millions assert ?another world is possible,? Michael Albert?s proposals for ?participatory economics? provide an essential starting point for thinking about what that world might be and how we might get there. In REALIZING HOPE, he goes beyond the primarily economic framework of participatory economics to open the crucial but too-rarely posed questions of how to coordinate economic change with the changes we need in other spheres of life.' - Jeremy Brecher Michael Albert has posed a breathtakingly simple question- what do left-libertarians want, exactly, 'beyond capitalism'?- and, in answering it, has produced a work of exhilarating scope. Albert captures the best of the spirit of the new global social movement. He consciously rejects all vanguardism, and demands a direct action in the realm of thought: he asks us to look at those who are creating viable alternatives, to try to figure out what might be the larger implications of what they are doing, and then to offer those ideas back, not as prescriptions, but as contributions, possibilities?as gifts. Albert combines close empirical insights with a magisterial conceptual grasp. We will be arguing about this work for years.' - Andrej Grubacic, historian and anti-capitalist activist In 'Realizing Hope', Michael Albert mulls over the better society that we may create after capitalism, provoking much thought and offering a generous, hopeful vision of the future. His prescriptions for action in the present are modest and wise; his suggestions for building the future are ambitious and humane. There is a hunger for this kind of practical, visionary alternative. 'Realizing Hope' is an important part of the internal development of the global movements for peace and justice, helping us to recover lost insights.' Milan Rai 'Millions across the world are coming together in hitherto unprecedented networks of solidarity to struggle against poverty, inequality, discrimination, and war. These fighters proclaim that a better world is possible. Realizing Hope challenges us to imagine how.' - Sudhanva Deshpande 'Those of us who have been grappling with the question of the good society in limited domains of inquiry are indebted to Michael Albert for bringing together so much of this work into a coherent and exciting whole and expanding on it. Anyone disgusted with existing society -- which is to say, just about everyone -- who wants to know if there are any alternatives, will find Realizing Hope informative, provocative, creative, engaging, and, yes, full of hope.' -- Stephen R. Shalom, Editor of Socialist Visions and Professor of Political Science, William Paterson University Appartient à la série éditoriale
Something is profoundly wrong with capitalist globalization, as neo-liberal policies continue to vastly increase the disparity between rich and poor. 'What is the alternative?' is a question challenging activists around the world. Michael Albert has wrestled with this question for many years, and his answer has captured the imagination of many in both North and South. 'Participatory Economics' - 'Parecon' for short - is Albert's proposal for an economic system which offers a real alternative to capitalism, built on familiar values including solidarity, equity, diversity. In this ambitious new book, Albert goes further. Realising Hope offers a vision of how whole areas of life might be transformed in a post-capitalist society. Whether exploring the way we work, our relationship to the earth, or the transformation of global financial institutions, communities rather than profit are always firmly at the centre.'Realizing Hope extends to just about every major domain of human concern and mode of human interaction, and investigates with care and insight how, in these domains, parecon-like principles could lead to a far more desirable society than anything that exists, and also how these goals can be constructively approached. It is another very valuable and provocative contribution to the quest for a world of much greater freedom and justice.' - Noam Chomsky, USA'Realizing Hope opens many doors for social vision and strategy. At a moment when Africa needs an alternative to nationalist politics, Realizing Hope is amazingly timely. Pan-Africanists and Black Marxists alike will find much in this book to enrich and expand our politics.' - Mandisi Majavu, South Africa'A better world is indeed possible and not just a Utopia. Michael Albert points the way towards a society based on participation and justice. Utopia is somewhere that does not exist yet. This book can help turn a dream into reality.' - Vittorio Agnoletto, Italy'Albert captures the best of the spirit of the new global social movements. He combines close empirical insights with a magisterial conceptual grasp. We will be arguing about this work for years.' Andrej Grubacic, Serbia'Realizing Hope mulls over the better society that we may create after capitalism, provoking much thought and offering a generous, hopeful vision of the future. Albert's prescriptions for action in the present are modest and wise; his suggestions for building the future are ambitious and humane.' - Milan Rai, Britain'Millions across the world are coming together in hitherto unprecedented networks of solidarity to struggle against poverty, inequality, discrimination, and war. These fighters proclaim that a better world is possible. Realizing Hope challenges us to imagine how.' - Sudhanva Deshpande, India'Realizing Hope goes beyond the primarily economic framework of participatory economics to open the crucial but too rarely posed questions of how to coordinate economic change with the changes we need in other spheres of life.' - Jeremy Brecher, USA'Michael Albert passionately argues for a different future where equity, diversity, justice, and self-management are more than just distant dreams. Realizing Hope does not shy away from the awesome complexity of human issues, nor does it reek of the stultifying dogmatism of so many left-wing tracts. One can disagree at places, but it forces the reader to think and be conscious of choices.' - Pervez Hoodbhoy, Pakistan.'Anyone disgusted with existing society - which is to say, just about everyone - who wants to know if there are any alternatives will find Realizing Hope informative, provocative, creative, engaging, and, yes, full of hope.' - Stephen R. Shalom, USA Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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