Znet is a great resource, and I highly recommend it to all my readers. One thing they have available on their site is a full copy of Looking Forward: Participatory Economics for the Twenty-First Century, by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel. Their book was a compliment The Political Economy of Participatory Economics, which was geared more toward economists. These two books, and Albert and Hahnels other books on Participatory Society have been on the most significant contributions to the left in at least forty years. Their work with Liberating Theory alone is a monumental contribution, challenging monistic and pluralistic understanding of society, which elevate some spheres of society over others. Albert and Hahnel disagree, and helped formulate a new conceptual framework, called “complementary holism.” Albert and Hahnel describe four spheres of society: economy, polity, kinship, culture, all of which are interconnected, but none are more ‘important’ than the other. The movement is listening, and the new Students for a Democratic Society have recently clarified their commitment to this concept by adopting the “Statement on Totalist Politics.” The work coming out of Liberating Theory led to more detailed work, and eventually a vision for each of the four social spheres of life. Participatory Economics is the vision for an economy in a good society.
The theory was conceived by first evaluating what values a good society should uphold. Solidarity, Equity, Diversity and Self-Management were chosen. But values are not enough for an economy. We want solidarity, but solidarity how? Participatory economics seeks to answer the long unanswered question of what do we want? Four core institutions are described which will further our values, as well as efficiently produce, allocate and consume goods and services, and they are Democratic worker’s and consumer’s councils, remuneration according to effort and sacrifice alone, balanced job complexes, and participatory planning. Looking Forward goes into much detail on both the values and institutions of the economy, and answers many common concerns and criticisms. It is important, though, to remember this Participatory Economics is not a “blue-print,” but rather a vision of the defining features of an economy, to guide our movements for economic justice.
