- Paperback: 280 pages
- Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield; 2 edition (Aug 5 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0742564983
- ISBN-13: 978-0742564985
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 408 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #107,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
For anybody who thinks that capitalism leads to economic and moral catastrophe David Schweickart’s book is a formidabile critique of capitalism and an excellent exposition of economic democracy as a new mode of production which may supersede the system in which we live. After Capitalism is a book full of hope for the critics of capitalism and a book which must be read by all socialists. It shows that there is a valuable alternative to capitalism and argues that the labour managed firm is better that the capitalistic one for a number of reasons, all of great importance. A system of democratic firms is the realization of socialism according to a marxist vision and, after the breakdown of central planning in Eastern Europe, may contribute to the revival of marxism in a new democratic form. After capitalism is an accessible book for students and anybody who is interested in politics and explains also the way we may follow to realize the new system. (Bruno Jossa )
David Schweickart's After Capitalism is both visionary and practical. Lucidly written, its serves well in the college classroom or in a discussion group of workers wanting to know what socialism is all about (I've tried it, and they loved it!). This new addition enhances the first by dealing with the current meltdown, and offering an alternative to all concerned with winning the battles for democracy. It's simply the best modern book on the topic. (Carl Davidson )
By far the most sophisticated, detailed and illuminating book yet to appear on a new vision for 21st century socialism. Must reading for anyone serious about building a meaningful progressive future. (Gar Alperovitz )
Any revolutionary movement has to contend with three cardinal questions: What's wrong with the present system? What does a worthy successor look like? And how do we get there? After Capitalism by David Schweickart provides clear and compelling answers to all three, delivered in a wonderfully engaging and understandable style. If you've ever wondered whether we can do better than capitalism, read this book! (J. Todd Wilson )
David Schweickart's After Capitalism is both visionary and practical. Lucidly written, its serves well in the college classroom or in a discussion group of workers wanting to know what socialism is all about (I've tried it, and they loved it!). This new addition enhances the first by dealing with the current meltdown, and offering an alternative to all concerned with winning the battles for democracy. It's simply the best modern book on the topic. (Carl Davidson )
By far the most sophisticated, detailed and illuminating book yet to appear on a new vision for 21st century socialism. Must reading for anyone serious about building a meaningful progressive future. (Gar Alperovitz )
Any revolutionary movement has to contend with three cardinal questions: What's wrong with the present system? What does a worthy successor look like? And how do we get there? After Capitalism by David Schweickart provides clear and compelling answers to all three, delivered in a wonderfully engaging and understandable style. If you've ever wondered whether we can do better than capitalism, read this book! (J. Todd Wilson )
Product Description
Since first published in 2002, After Capitalism has offered students and political activists alike a coherent vision of a viable and desirable alternative to capitalism. David Schweickart calls this system Economic Democracy, a successor-system to capitalism which preserves the efficiency strengths of a market economy while extending democracy to the workplace and to the structures of investment finance. In the second edition, Schweickart recognizes that increased globalization of companies has created greater than ever interdependent economies and the debate about the desirability of entrepreneurship is escalating. The new edition includes a new preface, completely updated data, reorganized chapters, and new sections on the economic instability of capitalism, the current economic crisis, and China. Drawing on both theoretical and empirical research, Schweickart shows how and why this model is efficient, dynamic, and applicable in the world today.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A vision of "Economic Democracy",
By
This review is from: After Capitalism (Paperback)
The evils of centrally planned socialism on the Soviet model are widely proclaimed, but capitalism has equally negative side effects: gross maldistribution of the fruits of the economy, the breeding of a mass consumer culture, and destruction of the environment among them. Capitalism may well collapse under its own excesses, but what would one propose to replace it? Margaret Thatcher's mantra was TINA...There Is No Alternative. David Schweickart's vision of "Economic Democracy" proposes a serious alternative. Even more fundamentally, it opens the door to thinking about alternatives. His may or may not turn out to be the definitive "successor system," but he is a leader in breaking out of the box.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is this already happening???,
By "tomu18" (Bridgeview, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: After Capitalism (Paperback)
This is a good book. It was recommended to me by a friend who took the professor's philisophy class. The professor provides an excellent lesson on capitalism. The economic democracy that the professor proposes is fascinating because it eliminates capitalism. First, the professor explains why capitalists are inherently bad for democracy, then he explains how we can do without capitalists, then he explains how we being to phase capitalists and their effects out of society. This is not a book that comes from far out in left field. In fact, I am the son of a father who is a member of a worker-collective right here in Chicago. Economic democracy is happening, but will it go as far as proposed in this book? If economic democracy is superior to capitalism, is there any other alternative for our future?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.7 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews) 47 of 52 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A vision of "Economic Democracy",
By David Chandler - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: After Capitalism (Paperback)
The evils of centrally planned socialism on the Soviet model are widely proclaimed, but capitalism has equally negative side effects: gross maldistribution of the fruits of the economy, the breeding of a mass consumer culture, and destruction of the environment among them. Capitalism may well collapse under its own excesses, but what would one propose to replace it? Margaret Thatcher's mantra was TINA...There Is No Alternative. David Schweickart's vision of "Economic Democracy" proposes a serious alternative. Even more fundamentally, it opens the door to thinking about alternatives. His may or may not turn out to be the definitive "successor system," but he is a leader in breaking out of the box.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most workable, realistic, and inspiring socialist system to date.,
By S. J. Boatwright - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: After Capitalism (Paperback)
After completing Dr. Schweickart's masterpiece I left with a true sense of empowerment and optimism. Economic democracy is only a theory on paper but the substance of the model is made so clear in "After Capitalism" you can almost perfectly imagine what the system would look like fully implemented. Schweickart breaks his theory into several important points:Worker self management. Using evidence from numerous scholars the book looks at the merits of having a macro econ. policy based on workers coops. Staying balanced with studies done by pro-coop Princeton economist and a critic of the Mondragon coop in Spain, he offers more than enough empirical evidence to come to a clear conclusion: Worker's coops are just as efficient, if not more so, as their privately owned counter-parts. Efficiency is only one plus of the coop though. The author digs deep to explore coop's relation to future business expansion, employment, and profit sharing. Social control of investment is the next major characteristic of E.D. All workers coop's are charged a flat tax that is diverted into a national investment fund. These funds are then transferred back to communities (on a per capita basis) through regional and local public banks. Banks then give grants to coops creating "profitable employment" and to groups of individuals who intend to start new coops. This is a weighty concept and I would read it with a pen and pad in hand. However, at the end of chapter three you will be well versed in the financial markets replacement and ready to defend the proposition if you so chose. The last major tenet of E.D. involves the market itself. Unlike the USSR or decentralized econ. planning schemes E.D. keeps the consumer market intact. He defends this stance well and shows how a consumer market can be a powerful aspect of a socialist system. The book also covers "socialist protectionism" to be practiced in place of free trade, a blueprint of reforms to move towards E.D., and ways to keep the average Joe's money safe in the transcending of capitalism. Much of the book is spent dismantling capitalism's contradictions and short comings. If you have free market sympathies be prepared to be challenged. I can not do the book justice in this short review but I suggest this book to all realms of the political spectrum. It will present a challenge to those on the right and make some new debates on the left. I am now a firm advocate of many of Schweickart's theories. 24 of 30 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is this already happening???,
By "tomu18" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: After Capitalism (Paperback)
This is a good book. It was recommended to me by a friend who took the professor's philisophy class. The professor provides an excellent lesson on capitalism. The economic democracy that the professor proposes is fascinating because it eliminates capitalism. First, the professor explains why capitalists are inherently bad for democracy, then he explains how we can do without capitalists, then he explains how we being to phase capitalists and their effects out of society. This is not a book that comes from far out in left field. In fact, I am the son of a father who is a member of a worker-collective right here in Chicago. Economic democracy is happening, but will it go as far as proposed in this book? If economic democracy is superior to capitalism, is there any other alternative for our future?
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