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After Capitalism, 2nd Edition Paperback – 5 August 2011
by David Schweickart (Author)
4
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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282 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Product description
Review
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!
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.
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.
For anybody who thinks that capitalism leads to economic and moral catastrophe David Schweickart's book is a formidable 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.
Over some 30 years, Schweickart (Loyola Univ. Chicago) has defended and developed a vision of a democratic market socialism as a viable alternative to capitalism. With PhDs in both mathematics and philosophy, Schweickart has the tools to critically evaluate relevant arguments, both economic and ethical. In the first edition of After Capitalism (2002), Schweickart sought to present his case in a manner accessible to a general audience and to academic specialists. The second edition remains accessible to a general audience, but adds valuable discussions on the instability of capitalism, the current global crisis, different responses to this crisis in different parts of the world, and what may be an emerging Chinese version of market socialism. As in his earlier works, Schweickart writes with vigor and clarity. He has a gift for presenting abstract and complex material in a way that nonspecialist readers can understand. Readers who finish this book not yet ready to embrace Schweickart's vision for the future nonetheless will have a much richer understanding of the current crisis, the underlying causes of the crisis, and alternative possibilities. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.
Schweikart's book After Capitalism is an imaginative handbook for creating a socialist American society that succeeds capitalism. It describes in down-to-earth detail a replacement for capitalism that he calls "economic democracy" and how we can bring it about. The book is an entertaining and informative tour de force, with a lot of careful thought behind it. Only reading it can do justice to its complexity.
About the Author
David Schweickart is a professor of philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. He holds doctorate degrees in both mathematics and philosophy. He is the author of Capitalism or Worker Control and articles on social, political, and economic philosophy. His work has been translated into French, Spanish, Catalan, and Chinese.
Product details
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; 2nd edition (5 August 2011)
Language : English
Paperback : 282 pages
ISBN-10 : 0742564983
ISBN-13 : 978-0742564985
Reading age : 18 years and up
Dimensions : 15.52 x 1.73 x 23.09 cmCustomer Reviews:
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
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David Schweickart
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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klear
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Gift for an Economics Degree GraduateReviewed in Canada on 12 September 2019
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I bought this book as a gift for my son. He said it was very interesting.
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Michael Bindner
5.0 out of 5 stars State CoopertivismReviewed in the United States on 23 July 2017
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After Capitalism goes beyond the usual Marxist excuse that the workers will design their future by actually suggesting a system for social control after capitalism. He has a three part proposal. 1. Firms will be self governed cooperatively. 2. Assets will be owned by the state at large and enterprises will pay a ten percent tax. 3. Taxes will be distributed geographically for investment in new and existing operations. It is an interesting proposal, but could uses some fleshing out in how firms will be managed, for example, how they will decide things and pay their executives. As for the rest, I am not sure why new investments and innovative product launches cannot occur within the context of existing socialist cooperatives. The state asset owership and investment system sounds like state control for its own sake. I expect that part of this is a safety net to redo failing cooperatives, but for that I would give a third of cooperative voting shares to an insurance fund to both insure the future incomes of members and to, at the request of a quarter of employee shares, take over the cooperative and reorganize it should mismanagement be found.
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Phil Myers
5.0 out of 5 stars Schweickart's book is the best and clearest vision of post-capitalist economics that I've come ...Reviewed in the United States on 18 July 2017
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Schweickart's book is the best and clearest vision of post-capitalist economics that I've come across. By disaggregating three central features of capitalist economies (markets, ownership of the means of production, and control of the labor process) and addressing each separately he sheds tremendous light on the current system and possible successor systems. Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpfulReport
Bakir
4.0 out of 5 stars Author is RemarkableReviewed in the United States on 7 October 2014
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My professor wrote this book and we are going to read it for his social and political philosophy class. He is an amazing guy and his lectures are on point. Would recommend this book to anyone interested in politics and government infrastructure.
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Janice Beauchamp
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've ever readReviewed in the United States on 14 May 2019
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A thorough analysis of the problems of capitalism and how we can transcend it with Economic Democracy.
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After Capitalism
 | |
| Author | Dada Maheshvarananda |
|---|---|
| Country | USA |
| Subject | Post-capitalism, Prout |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Innerworld Publications |
Publication date | 2012 |
| Pages | 390 pp |
| ISBN | 978-1-881717-14-0 |
| Preceded by | After Capitalism: Prout’s Vision for a New World |
After Capitalism: Economic Democracy in Action is a 2012 book by United States author Dada Maheshvarananda, an activist, yoga monk and writer.[1][2] The book argues that global capitalism is terminally ill because it suffers from four fatal flaws: growing inequity and concentration of wealth, addiction to speculation instead of production, rising unsustainable debt and its tendency to exploit the natural environment.
The author proposes a grassroots movement for economic democracy with cooperatives and local economies based on the Progressive Utilization Theory or Prout, a post-capitalist model conceptualized by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar of India. The book includes a conversation with Noam Chomsky and essays by Frei Betto, Johan Galtung, Leonardo Boff, Sohail Inayatullah, Marcos Arruda, Ravi Batra and others.
Background[edit]
The author's first book, After Capitalism: Prout's Vision for a New World, with a preface by Noam Chomsky, was published in 2003 and, subsequently, translated into nine other languages. However, when the author started to update it, he discovered that both the world and the development of Prout had changed so much that more than 80 percent of the text was actually new material. Beyond this, economic democracy, a fundamental demand of Prout, was also starting to resonate with the Indignados Movement of Spain and the global Occupy Movement. Hence this book has a new title.
Content[edit]
Chapter 1: The Failure of Global Capitalism and Economic Depressions: A brief review of colonialism, the economics of the Cold War, common practices by multinational corporations, the Global Financial Crisis of the 2000s, economic depressions and global capitalism's four fatal flaws. "How to Live Through Economic Turmoil" by Mark A. Friedman.
Chapter 2: A New Social Paradigm Based on Spiritual Values: An ecological and spiritual perspective, Prout's philosophical base, universal spirituality, the concept of Cosmic Inheritance, the problems with materialism, and Neohumanism. Definition of social progress, definition of the dynamic web of life or "Pramá", how it is lost and how it can be restored. The benefits of meditation for activists. "The Importance of Prout and its Concept of Pramá" by Dr. Leonardo Boff.
Chapter 3: The Right to Live!: The minimum necessities of life guaranteed to all, pharmaceutical corporations vs. generic medicines, comparing Prout to Marxism, Communism and Participatory Economics. The Five Fundamental Principles of Prout and how they can be used to evaluate social policies, factors that motivate people to work and economic indicators for setting the minimum and maximum wages. "Striving to Achieve Affordable Health Care for All in Kenya" by Didi Ananda Rucira.
Chapter 4: Economic Democracy: Industry, commerce and service in three levels, how to provide housing for all, economic decentralization and socio-economic regions, comparing the welfare economics of Amartya Sen to Prout. Barter trade, Prout's monetary system, taxation, "A Proutist Response to Land Value Capture" by Dr. John Gross.
Chapter 5: Cooperatives for a Better World: Human nature competitive or cooperative? Successful cooperatives around the world, the Mondragón cooperatives, how worker cooperatives function, what makes cooperatives successful? Examples of small-scale cooperatives in Maleny, Australia and the Venezuelan cooperative experience.
Chapter 6: An Agrarian Revolution and Environmental Protection: The deepening crisis in agriculture, food sovereignty, Prout's agrarian revolution, agricultural cooperatives, ideal farming and the benefits of growing your own food. Agro- and Agrico-Industries, the benefits of a balanced economy. Prout Master Units, community supported agriculture (CSA), the Food, Farms and Jobs program of Illinois. Endangered rainforests, forest preservation strategies, tribal knowledge of medicinal plants, the Future Vision Ecological Park in Brazil and a block-level planning exercise.
Chapter 7: A New Perspective on Class, Class Struggle and Revolution: History and the Social Cycle, bloodless revolution and armed struggle, a new vision of history. The Sarkar Game. The exploitation of women throughout history and today, and the awakening of women. "Comparing the Class Analysis of Marx and Sarkar" by Dr. Ravi Batra and "Prout's Social Cycle" by Dr. Johan Galtung.
Chapter 8: Spiritual Revolutionaries: Sarkar's vision of Sadvipras, spiritual activism, facing our shadows. Goodness, evil and how to train heroes. Emotionally intelligent leaders and how to inspire others and yourself. "Becoming Sadvipras" by Satya Tanner and "Prout Lessons from Development Work in West Africa" by Dada Daneshananda.
Chapter 9: A New Concept of Ethics And Justice: Increase in violent crime, ethics for personal and social transformation, cardinal human values as the basis for legal justice, restorative justice and re-education centers for personal transformation, transforming prisoners through yoga and meditation, drug abuse as a health issue.
Chapter 10: "Our Culture is Our Strength!" Cultural Identity and Education: Psychic exploitation, culture, civilization and pseudo-culture, an educational revolution, Neohumanist schools, local and global languages, mass movements and guerrilla street theater. "Future Tasmania" by Liila Hass and "Using Prout to Evaluate and Support a Community Samaja Movement: The Maya of Panimatzalam, Guatemala" by Dr. Matt Oppenheim
Chapter 11: Prout's Governance: Different views on governance, democratic reforms, constitutional proposals based on Prout, a universal bill of rights, world government. "Transformative Strategies and the Futures of the Prout Movement" by Dr. Sohail Inayatullah.
Chapter 12: A Call to Action: Strategies for Implementing Prout: "Another World is Possible!" Organizing marginalized farmers, how to be an ideal activist. The Prout Research Institute of Venezuela and the Prout Institute (Eugene, Oregon, USA). Model cooperatives and community service projects, mass movements, a popular youth movement in Hungary and protests against global capitalism. Hope for the future.
Chapter 13: A Conversation with Noam Chomsky: About The Occupy Movement, economic democracy and cooperatives, limiting the accumulation of wealth, consciousness raising, and Latin America.
Afterword: "The Possibility of Creating Another World is in Our Hands" by Frei Betto.
Appendices: Discussion questions about the book, designing Prout Study Action Circles, Prout slogans.
Critical response[edit]
Praise[edit]
Bill Ayers in Left Eye on Books wrote, "In just a few pages I felt the brotherly embrace of a comrade-in-arms, a soul-mate, and a companion; further along his fierce intelligence and original insights challenged me to make new connections; by the end I was inspired to re-imagine next steps in my own efforts at movement-making."[3]
Gar Alperovitz, author of America Beyond Capitalism, wrote, "An ambitious and stimulating attempt to connect spiritual principles with the pragmatic work of building a better world."[citation needed] Gregory Wilpert, author of Changing Venezuela by Taking Power, wrote, "After Capitalism is a crucial contribution towards figuring out where we want to go, not only after capitalism, but now, as we try to build the new world within the old."[citation needed]
George Katsiaficas, activist and author of Asia's Unknown Uprisings, wrote: "With grace and intelligence, Dada Maheshvarananda illuminates paths of personal enlightenment and global transformation."[citation needed] Charles Eisenstein, author of Sacred Economics, wrote, "A broad ecological, social, political and spiritual awareness informs this vision of a new economic future."[citation needed]
Mixed[edit]
Jeff Fleischer in ForeWord Reviews wrote, "Most of the book is simply an explanation of Prout, and has the same strengths and weaknesses of the theory itself. While many of the goals advocated by Maheshvarananda and Prout supporters—such as diminishing income inequality and promoting citizen cooperatives—are certainly admirable, the theory is often vague about how they would be achieved or what a transition to a Prout economy would look like on a large scale... Too often, After Capitalism will seem naively unrealistic to opponents of Prout's vision while simultaneously obscure and lacking in specifics for those who would like to see its principles applied... Maheshvarananda is more effective in his critique of how current economic systems have created global wealth inequality, and at citing statistics for how poverty has spread even in wealthier nations. The most interesting parts of the book, however, are the guest contributions, which serve as case studies of using Prout principles in specific, smaller-scale projects around the world. While these contributions are quite short, they offer some of the detail lacking in the overall treatise."[4]
See also[edit]
Notes and references[edit]
- ^ "DADA MAHESHVARANANDA presents COOPERATIVE GAMES FOR A COOPERATIVE WORLD | Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe". www.malaprops.com. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ "After Capitalism: Economic Democracy in Action by Dada Maheshvarananda - Paperback - from World of Books Ltd (SKU: GOR008710508)". Biblio.co.uk. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ “Trudge Toward Freedom: A Review of “After Capitalism” by Dada Maheshvarananda Archived May 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine" by Bill Ayers, Left Eye on Books, January 15, 2013”
- ^ “After Capitalism: Economic Democracy in Action, by Jeff Fleischer, ForeWord Reviews, Dec. 5 2012.”
External links[edit]
Reviews and interviews[edit]
- Radio interviews of Dada Maheshvarananda with Maeve Conlan of KGNU Independent Community Radio in Boulder, Colorado, Dec. 11 2012 and Dec. 13, 2012.
- Trudge Toward Freedom: A Review of "After Capitalism" by Dada Maheshvarananda by Bill Ayers, Left Eye on Books, Jan. 15 2013
- After Capitalism: Economic Democracy in Action, by Jeff Fleischer, ForeWord Reviews, Dec. 5 2012.
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