ASRXXX10.1177/000312241246 4688828882American Sociological ReviewWright 2012

2012 Presidential Address

American Sociological Review XX(X) 1­–25 Transforming Capitalism © American Sociological Association 2012 DOI: 10.1177/0003122412468882 through Real Utopias http://asr.sagepub.com

Erik Olin Wrighta

Abstract This address explores a broad framework for thinking sociologically about emancipatory alter- natives to dominant institutions and social structures, especially capitalism. The framework is grounded in two foundational propositions: (1) Many forms of human suffering and many defi- cits in human flourishing are the result of existing institutions and social structures. (2) Trans- forming existing institutions and social structures in the right way has the potential to substan- tially reduce human suffering and expand the possibilities for human flourishing. An emancipa- tory social science responding to these propositions faces four broad tasks: specifying the moral principles for judging social institutions; using these moral principles as the standards for diagnosis and critique of existing institutions; developing an account of viable alternatives in response to the critique; and proposing a theory of transformation for realizing those alterna- tives. The idea of “real utopias” is one way of thinking about alternatives and transformation.

“There is no alternative” – Margaret and social structures. My focus is mainly on Thatcher, early 1980s the problem of alternatives to capitalism, but

“Another world is possible” – motto of the aUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison World Social Forum, 2000s Corresponding Author: Erik Olin Wright, Department of Sociology, In this address I explore a broad frame- University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 work for thinking sociologically about eman- Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706 cipatory alternatives to dominant institutions E-mail: [email protected]

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at ASA - American Sociological Association on January 29, 2013 2 American Sociological Review XX(X) much of what I have to say would apply to ways that deepen and broaden the possibility other dominant institutions as well. My hope of meaningful democracy. I will begin by is to contribute to a normatively grounded briefly discussing two foundational proposi- sociology of the possible, not just the actual. tions shared by all varieties of critical and Developing a theory of alternatives to capi- emancipatory social science. The idea of real talism at the beginning of the twenty-first utopias is one response to the intellectual chal- century is a pressing task, for to most people lenge posed by these propositions. capitalism now seems the natural order of things. This was not always the case. Through- out the twentieth century, many people on both Foundations the left and the right saw socialism as an alter- All varieties of social science that have critical native, either as a promise of emancipation or and emancipatory aspirations, whether they as a threat of oppression. Today, however, even are anchored in values and beliefs of the left or for most critics on the left, socialism as a future the right, share two foundational positions: to capitalism no longer has much credibility. This does not mean people have universally Foundational Proposition of Critical Social come to view capitalism as a benign social Science: Many forms of human suffering order within which humanity will flourish. and many deficits in human flourishing are Indeed, we live in a period in which many of the result of existing institutions and social the traditional socialist criticisms of capitalism structures. seem more appropriate than ever: economic instability and crisis harm the lives of masses Foundational Proposition of Emancipatory of people; inequality, economic polarization, Social Science: Transforming existing insti- and job insecurity in many economically tutions and social structures in the right way developed countries have been deepening; has the potential to substantially reduce capital has become increasingly footloose, human suffering and expand the possibili- moving across the globe and severely under- ties for human flourishing. mining the democratic capacity of states and communities; giant corporations dominate the The first proposition affirms the very general media and cultural production; the market idea that significant aspects of human suffering appears like a law of nature uncontrollable by and deficits in human flourishing are not simply human device; and politics are ever more the result of human nature, acts of God, or vari- dominated by money and unresponsive to the ations in people’s attributes, but are the result of concerns and worries of ordinary people. social causes. Stated in this abstract way, this The need for a vibrant alternative to capi- proposition is accepted by nearly all sociolo- talism is as great as ever. Yet the particular gists, whether or not they explicitly identify institutional arrangements that have come to with any of the traditions of critical sociology, be associated with alternatives—socialism and is thus not controversial. The proposition rooted in state control of the economy—are becomes very controversial, of course, when seen as incapable of delivering on their prom- concrete claims are made about the specific ises. Instead of being viewed as a threat to mechanisms that generate these harms. Writers capitalism, talk of socialism now seems more have proposed many social sources of harms: like archaic utopian dreaming, or perhaps the core structures of the capitalist economy; even worse: a distraction from dealing with unintended effects of the welfare state; enduring tractable problems in the real world. social and cultural structures of racism and sex- In what follows I propose a power- ism; educational institutions; changes in family centered framework for addressing these issues structures; and particular kinds of technology. A anchored in the idea of “real utopias.” At its great deal of sociological research attempts to core, this proposal revolves around transform- identify these sources of harm and adjudicate ing power relations within the economy in among rival arguments.

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The second proposition should not be con- having to provide serious arguments, they call sidered a simple corollary of the first. It could it utopian. Realists reject such fantasies as a be the case that various causal processes con- distraction from the serious business of mak- nected to capitalism explain much human suf- ing practical improvements in existing institu- fering, and yet any deliberate attempt at tions. The idea of real utopias embraces this transforming the fundamental structures of tension between dreams and practice: utopia capitalism would only make things worse. The implies developing visions of alternatives to cure could be worse than the disease due to dominant institutions that embody our deepest unintended and uncontrollable effects of aspirations for a world in which all people attempts at deliberate social transformation. have access to the conditions to live flourish- This is essentially Hayek’s (1988) argument in ing lives; real means proposing alternatives his attack on radical reformers. Following a attentive to problems of unintended conse- long tradition of classical conservative quences, self-destructive dynamics, and diffi- thought, Hayek makes two central claims cult dilemmas of normative trade-offs.2 A real (although not stated in precisely these terms): utopian holds on to emancipatory ideals with- first, the negative unintended consequences of out embarrassment or cynicism but remains deliberate social change are generally greater fully cognizant of the deep complexities and than the positive unintended consequences; contradictions of realizing those ideals. second, the larger the attempted social trans- The exploration of real utopias is an inte- formation, the bigger the negative unintended gral part of a broad agenda of an emancipatory consequences are likely to be.1 Taken together, social science that includes four basic tasks: these arguments suggest that even if one accepts the first proposition, in general the 1. Specifying the moral principles for judging second proposition should be rejected. The social institutions. emancipatory proposition constitutes the 2. Using these moral principles as the standards for “fatal conceit” of intellectuals, in Hayek’s diagnosis and critique of existing institutions. (1988:27) words, that “man is able to shape 3. Developing an account of viable alternatives in the world around him according to his wishes.” response to the critique. While I disagree with Hayek’s pessimism 4. Proposing a theory of transformation for real- and embrace the foundational proposition of izing those alternatives. emancipatory social science, I do not think such arguments can be dismissed out of hand. The I like to think of these tasks using the meta- folk aphorism “the road to hell is paved with phor of a voyage: the first two tasks tell us good intentions,” has too many historical exam- what is wrong with the world in which we live ples to be ignored, many of them animated by and why we want to leave it; the third tells us emancipatory aspirations. The idea of real uto- something about the destination we seek; and pias is a way of thinking about alternatives and the fourth helps us understand how to get from transformations that responds to these concerns. here to there. The rest of this address will look The expression “real utopia” is meant to be at each part of this voyage. a provocation, for “utopia” and “real” do not comfortably go together. Thomas Moore coined the word utopia in the early-sixteenth Moral Principles century as a kind of pun, combining the Greek Many different moral principles can be used for place—topos—with two prefixes that as standards with which to judge existing sound the same in English—ou meaning “not” institutions and social structures, frame the and eu meaning “good.” Utopia is thus both a elaboration of alternatives, and define the nowhere place and a good place. It is the fan- tasks of transformation. Different moral prin- tasy of a perfect world that fully embodies our ciples animate different voyages. Here I will moral ideals. When politicians want to sum- focus on three principles: equality, democ- marily discredit a policy proposal without racy, and sustainability.

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Equality would consider just. The idea of equal opportu- nity also pays no attention to how unequal the Moral issues connected to the idea of equality outcomes are—equal opportunity to thrive or have broadly motivated a central preoccupa- starve is still equal opportunity, but it is not tion of sociology: understanding the causes equal access to the conditions necessary for and consequences of diverse forms of inequal- human flourishing. Finally, equal opportunity is ity, especially involving class, gender, and consistent with a very punitive view toward race. I define the equality principle as follows: people who fail to take advantage of opportuni- ties early in life. As long as people have “start- In a socially just society, all people would ing gate” equal opportunity, there is nothing have broadly equal access to the social and unjust about their later deprivations if they material conditions necessary for living a blow their opportunities as young adults. This flourishing life. reflects a sociologically impoverished view of the life course, of how motivations are formed Four ideas are critical in this formulation. and disrupted at different stages of life, and a First, the ultimate good affirmed in the prin- completely unrealistic sociological and psycho- ciple is human flourishing. A variety of logical account of the degree of “responsibil- interconnected terms are invoked in discus- ity” for the consequences of one’s actions that sions of egalitarian ideals: welfare, well-being, can be appropriately assigned to persons.4 happiness, as well as flourishing. In practical Equal access implies a more compassionate terms, it probably does not matter which idea is view of the human condition than simple equal used, because social practices that facilitate opportunity, but also a more demanding princi- any one of these are likely to facilitate the ple of justice: in an ongoing way throughout others as well. Still, human flourishing seems their lives, people should have access to the to me to be the one least vulnerable to a purely conditions to live a flourishing life. subjective interpretation and most systemati- Third, the egalitarian principle of social jus- cally shaped by social conditions. It refers to tice refers to material and social conditions the various ways people are able to develop necessary to flourish, not just material condi- their talents and capacities, to realize their tions. The idea of social conditions necessary potentials as human beings. The concept does for a flourishing life in this formulation is com- not privilege one kind of capacity over another. plex. In the case of material conditions it is These capacities are intellectual, physical, pretty clear what we are talking about—mostly artistic, spiritual, social, and moral. A flourish- economic resources used to satisfy needs, and ing human life is one in which these talents and also things like personal physical security. capacities develop.3 Social conditions is a much more heterogene- Second, the egalitarian ideal in the principle ous idea. It includes such things as social is captured by the idea of equal access, not respect, community, solidarity, and trust. In a equal opportunity. Equal opportunity is the just world, all people would have broadly equal characteristic way Americans think about fair- access to such social conditions. This means ness. I also believe equal opportunity is a good that issues of social stigma and social exclusion thing—a world characterized by equal opportu- are also issues of social justice along with more nity is a better world than one with unequal conventional concerns of access to material opportunity—but I do not think it fully captures resources.5 Social exclusions based on race, the moral intuition that drives the idea of equal- gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, physical ity. Equal opportunity has a number of limita- disability, or anything else have equal moral tions. It is satisfied by a world in which there is standing with class as bases of critique of exist- a perfect lottery at birth in which 10 percent of ing social institutions and social structures.6 babies get to live a flourishing life and 90 per- Finally, the principle of equality as stated cent live a life of deprivation. That is a version above refers to all persons. This means that in of equal opportunity, but hardly what anyone a fully just world, all persons regardless of

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at ASA - American Sociological Association on January 29, 2013 Wright 5 race, class, gender, sexual orientation, physical individual choice, but they share the same disability, ethnicity, religion, nationality, citi- underlying value of self-determination. What zenship status, or geographic location would differs is the context in which choices and have broadly equal access to the material and decisions are made. social conditions necessary to live a flourish- Of course, virtually everything of impor- ing life. This is a very strong criterion. We live tance we do has some kind of unchosen side in an unjust world where some people are born effect on others; in practice there is no natural in poor countries, others in rich countries, and boundary between the private and the public. as a result people have unequal access to the How we draw the boundary depends on pre- material conditions to live flourishing lives. It cisely what kinds of unchosen effects on oth- may well be that for all sorts of reasons it is ers we decide should be allowed. This is difficult—or even impossible—to fully rem- fundamentally a political decision and gener- edy this global injustice. But a damaging ine- ally reflects the relative power of different quality does not become socially just simply kinds of social interests. In a fully democratic because of the difficulty of changing things.7 society, this critical line of demarcation between the private and public realms would itself be determined through democratic Democracy deliberation among equal citizens. There are many different ways of defining With this definition of democracy, there are democracy. Here I want to define it in a way two main ways that a society can fail to realize that highlights the central moral value that democratic values. First, it can fail the “equal democratic institutions attempt to realize: access” test if some people have much greater access to political power than do others. This In a fully democratic society, all people can be due to explicit rules of exclusion, as in would have broadly equal access to the the early United States where women and non- necessary means to participate meaning- whites were denied the vote, or because various fully in decisions about things that affect kinds of private power are allowed to give some their lives. people privileged access to political power. This does not mean that in a deeply democratic soci- The value underlying democracy is the value ety everyone actually participates equally in the of self-determination, of people being in con- exercise of power, but everyone needs to have trol of their lives rather than having their lives equal access to participation. Second, a society controlled by others. This includes individuals’ can fail to realize democratic values if important freedom to make choices that affect their own domains of decisions that significantly affect the lives as separate persons, and their capacity to lives of many people are excluded from collec- participate in collective decisions that affect tive decision-making. their lives as members of a broader commu- nity. When the democratic value is defined this Sustainability way, the ideas of individual freedom and democracy basically share the same core value. Future generations should have access to Individual freedom means people are in a posi- the social and material conditions to live tion to make decisions autonomously without flourishing lives at least at the same level as consulting anyone else under conditions where the present generation. those decisions do not significantly affect other people. But if decisions have significant effects This way of understanding environmental on other people, those other people should be sustainability is closely connected to the co-participants in the decision. Generally, we equality principle of social justice. Equality is use the term “democracy” to describe these a social justice principle among people in the situations of collective decision-making world today. Sustainability is a justice princi- and “freedom” to describe situations of purely ple for people in the future.8

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The problem of sustainability as intertem- whole. But capitalism also inherently gener- poral justice raises a number of very difficult ates high levels of inequality in access to those questions. In particular, because it is so diffi- conditions and thus perpetuates eliminable cult to project technological change very far deficits in human flourishing. In the first into the future, it is always possible that what instance this is simply due to the sheer magni- looks today like a bleak environmental future tude of inequality in income and wealth gener- that undermines human flourishing because of ated by capitalist markets. Even if we adopt resource depletion, global warming, and toxic the weaker “equal opportunity” criterion for the waste, could end up being more than compen- equality principle, it is perhaps trivial to point sated by dramatic technological advances that out that in the United States, the 20 percent or enhance human flourishing. Many people so of all children growing up in families below believe there will always be a technological fix the poverty line do not have the same oppor- for future problems and thus there is no good tunities to develop their talents and potentials reason to deprive the present generation to as do children growing up in affluent families. protect the environment for future generations. The issue, however, is not simply unequal In the rich countries of the world today this opportunities for children, but unequal access seems like a rationalization for pure self- to the conditions to live a flourishing life interest, but it has more plausibility in the throughout the life course as a result of insuf- Global South. The implication is that moral ficient income to live at a culturally defined concerns raised by the issue of sustainability dignified level and the unequal vulnerability cannot really be disentangled from moral con- to life-risks connected to capitalist labor mar- cerns raised by the principle of equality and kets. Furthermore, the consequences of these social justice understood in global terms. forms of economic inequality are intensified by systematic under-provision of critical pub- lic goods. High-income earners can substitute Diagnosis and Critique expensive, good quality private goods for the The principles of equality, democracy, and absence of public goods to meet various kinds sustainability provide criteria for a moral audit of needs—education, health, public safety, of any specific institution, social structure, or and recreation. Lower income earners must even entire society. We can determine how rely on public goods, which are inevitably well schools and medical institutions or gender badly provided by capitalist markets. and racial structures realize these values. I These material injustices of capitalism are focus here on the problem of capitalism.9 This intrinsic to the ordinary functioning of capi- is not because I believe that all harms gener- talist economies; they are not simply the ated by existing social institutions are some- result of crises or special economic condi- how reducible to the effects of capitalism, but tions. This does not imply that the only solu- because I believe that exploring real utopian tion is to get rid of capitalism. It might be alternatives to capitalism is an especially press- possible to significantly mitigate this form of ing matter in this historical period. injustice through state provision of public goods and through redistribution mechanisms that would counteract the unjust inequalities Equality of capitalism but still leave capitalism the Capitalism is an engine of economic growth dominant economic structure. The experi- and technological change, as noted by both ences of a few northern European capitalist Karl Marx and Adam Smith. It has generated countries indicate that significant mitigation a productive capacity capable of providing the of capitalism-generated inequality is possible. material conditions for all people to live a Still, even in these cases it is important to flourishing life at an unprecedented level in recognize that this mitigation is the result of the economically developed regions of the developing noncapitalist institutions capable of world, and perhaps even in the world as a counteracting the effects of capitalist processes;

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at ASA - American Sociological Association on January 29, 2013 Wright 7 as a result, their economic systems have become by the importance of the values connected to less purely capitalist. private property even though, regrettably, it violates democratic values. One can say all of these things; but what one cannot legitimately Democracy say is that capitalism does not violate the fun- Capitalism generates severe deficits in real- damental value of democracy by giving pub- izing democratic values for three reasons: licly relevant decisions to private persons. by excluding crucial decisions from public The second way capitalism contradicts the deliberation, by allowing private wealth to full realization of democracy is that it allows affect access to political power, and by allow- private wealth to affect access to political ing workplace dictatorships. power. This is true everywhere; no capitalist The first of these is intrinsic to the very democracy is able to insulate political decision- concept of private property in the means of making from the exercise of power connected production. The word “private” in private to capitalist wealth. In the United States this property means that owners have the right to assault on democracy intensified after the exclude others from decisions about the use of Supreme Court’s recent decision on the use of that property. In practice, of course, there are corporate funds in political campaigns. But always some restrictions on the use of private this problem is not peculiar to the institutional property, specifically on uses that generate design of the political game in the United significant negative externalities (e.g., pollu- States; it is inherent in capitalism’s inequali- tion). But in a capitalist economy the critical ties of wealth and the structural power of power to allocate capital is held almost entirely capital.11 by private owners.10 The owner of a large fac- The third way capitalism violates democ- tory has the right to close the factory and move racy is by allowing workplace dictatorships. it to another location in order to increase prof- When workers agree to work for a capitalist its. This can have devastating effects not only employer they also agree to subject them- on the lives of people who lose their jobs, but selves to the authority of others and to do what on the lives of others in the community whose they are told. If they do not like what they are homes lose value or whose livelihoods are told to do, they can quit, but because they still linked to the factory in other ways. In a capital- must seek employment elsewhere, this is an ist economy it is completely legitimate to illusory autonomy. So long as workers are not make such decisions simply on the criterion in a position to freely choose between demo- that it is beneficial to the people who own the cratically organized workplaces and authori- factory. The people whose lives are negatively tarian firms, the employment relation cannot affected by that decision have no right whatso- really be considered “capitalism between con- ever to be co-participants in the decision. This senting adults.” Again, one might defend these is a violation of the principle of democracy. arrangements on the grounds of efficiency or Capitalism’s defenders could respond that some other value, but this does not change the allowing owners of capital to move their fact that authoritarian workplaces violate the capital without worrying about effects on democratic principle that people should be co- nonowners is necessary for the dynamism of participants in collective decisions that sig- capitalism, for efficiency and economic nificantly affect their lives.12 growth. They could even say the individual freedom that private property entails is more Sustainability important than democracy. Democracy, after all, is not the only thing we care about; nor- Capitalism inherently threatens the quality of mative trade-offs are inevitable in complex the environment for future generations social systems. On such grounds one might because of imperatives for consumerism and conclude that the right to destroy home values and endless growth in material production. The community members’ livelihoods is justified world is finite; endless growth in material

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at ASA - American Sociological Association on January 29, 2013 8 American Sociological Review XX(X) consumption is simply not compatible with At this particular moment in history, I long-term sustainability of the environment. think it is especially important to focus on the This does not mean that prosperity as such is viability problem. It might seem sensible to incompatible with the environment, but sim- begin by establishing whether an alternative ply that prosperity dependent on a dynamic of is really achievable and only then discuss its endless growth is incompatible.13 viability. Why waste time exploring the via- Consumerism and imperatives for growth bility of unachievable alternatives? It turns within capitalism are not just cultural facts. out that the achievability problem is simply Consumerism is a central imperative of a sta- too difficult, at least if we want to understand ble capitalist economy, for it is only through whether something might be achievable people buying things in the market that capi- beyond the immediate future. What public talist firms create jobs and only through jobs policy innovations and institutional transfor- that most people can acquire income. An anti- mations might be achievable in, say, 2040? consumerist economy is one in which produc- There are too many contingencies to even tivity growth is turned into greater leisure begin to answer that question in an interesting rather than greater consumption. But if this way. But there is an even more fundamental were to happen, capitalist firms would con- reason why I think the question of viability tinually face problems of inadequate demand should have priority over the question of for their products.14 In the economic crisis achievability: developing credible ideas about that began in 2008, the continual mantra was viable alternatives is one way of enhancing how to stimulate growth, how to increase their achievability. People are more likely to consumer demand. Only by curtailing profit- mobilize around alternatives they believe will maximization as the driving force allocating work than around alternatives they think are capital would it be possible to reengineer the pie in the sky. Moreover, such widely circu- economy in the rich regions of the world in lated discussions may enhance cultural reso- such a way that increases in leisure would be nance for actions in line with such viable given priority over increases in consumption, ideas. Viability affects achievability. This and most people would be able to acquire an reflects an interesting aspect of the notion of adequate standard of living without continual the “limits of possibility” in social contexts in economic growth in material production. All contrast to the natural world. Before Einstein of this is inconsistent with capitalism. demonstrated that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, it was still true that the speed of light was the absolute limit of pos- Alternatives sibility. The reality of those limits of possibil- The third task of an emancipatory theory is ity did not depend on their discovery. Limits developing an account of alternatives, both for of social possibility are not quite like that specific institutions and for macro-structures because beliefs about the limits of social pos- of society. Alternatives can be evaluated in sibility are one of the things that affect what terms of their desirability, their viability, and in fact becomes possible. Evidence for the their achievability. If you worry about desir- viability of alternatives has the potential to ability and ignore viability or achievability, shape such beliefs. then you are just a plain utopian. Exploration Two other preliminary comments on the of real utopias requires understanding these idea of alternatives are needed to set the stage other two dimensions. The viability problem for the exploration of real utopias. asks: If we could create this alternative, would First, how one thinks about alternatives we be able to stay there or would it have such depends in part on one’s conceptualization of unintended consequences and self-destructive the idea of “social system.” One metaphor for dynamics that it would not be sustainable? thinking about social systems depicts them as Achievability asks of a viable alternative: analogous to an organism whose parts are How do we move from here to there? tightly integrated into a functioning whole.

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There is some degree of freedom and varia- of ongoing racism, not merely the legacies of bility in how the parts function, but basically racism in the past. But affirmative action is they constitute a totality of functional interde- not, I would argue, a building block of a world pendency. If you remove critical parts of the of racial justice and emancipation. It is a nec- whole or try to dramatically transform them, essary means to move toward such a world, the whole disintegrates. but it is not itself a constituent element of the An alternative metaphor is that a social alternative that we seek. system is more like an ecosystem. Think of To embrace real utopias in this way is not society like a pond. A pond contains many to reject ameliorative reforms. In the practical species of fish, insects, and plants. Sometimes world of struggling to create the social condi- an alien species is introduced to an ecosystem tions for human flourishing it is important to and it thrives; sometimes it does not. Some be a pragmatic idealist. Often this means ecosystems are quite fragile and easily dis- muddling through with patchwork programs rupted; others can tolerate quite significant that do not prefigure emancipatory alterna- intrusions of invasive species without being tives. Sometimes this is the best one can do. seriously affected. If you think of society as But sometimes it is possible to move strug- an ecosystem, it still is the case that every- gles for equality, democracy, and sustainabil- thing is interdependent, but interactions do ity beyond such narrow constraints and create not constitute a tightly functionalized totality. institutions that are constitutive of a more This opens up a different way of imagining profound alternative. alternatives. One way to transform an ecosys- tem is to introduce an alien species that ini- tially finds a niche and then gradually Examples displaces certain other species. The idea of As a practical object of research, the study of real utopias as a way of transforming a soci- real utopias mainly focuses on institutions ety is more in line with the ecosystem view of that in way or another prefigure more radical society than with the organismic view. emancipatory alternatives. Sometimes these The second general comment about alter- are created in contexts of political struggles; natives concerns two contrasting ways of other times they emerge quietly, without thinking about how to make the world a better sharp confrontations. Sometimes they are in place—ameliorative reforms and real utopian deep tension with dominant institutions; other transformations. Ameliorative reforms look at times they occupy nonthreatening niches in existing institutions, identify their flaws, and the socioeconomic ecosystem. Before elabo- propose improvements that can be enacted. rating a systematic theoretical map of real These improvements matter—they reduce utopian alternatives to capitalism, it will be harms and enhance flourishing—but they are useful to briefly describe a number of specific limited to proposals that directly act on exist- examples. Most of these are discussed in ing structures and move one step beyond. Real more detail in Wright (2010). utopias, in contrast, envision the contours of an alternative social world that embodies Participatory budgeting. Participatory emancipatory ideals and then look for social budgeting (PB) is a transformation of the way innovations we can create in the world as it is urban budgets are created. Instead of techni- that move us toward that destination. Some- cal experts working with politicians to create times, this turns out to be the same as an ame- city budgets, budgets are created by ordinary liorative reform, but often ameliorative citizens meeting in popular assemblies and reforms do not constitute building blocks of voting on budget alternatives. In the PB model an emancipatory alternative. Consider, for initiated in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre example, affirmative action policies around in the early 1990s by the Brazilian Workers race. Affirmative action is one of the critical Party, neighborhood assemblies throughout policies for combating the pernicious effects the city were empowered to debate budgetary

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at ASA - American Sociological Association on January 29, 2013 10 American Sociological Review XX(X) priorities, propose specific kinds of budgetary is collectively controlled capital that can be projects, and then choose delegates to a city- allocated according to various principles. An wide budget council who would bring all of interesting example is the Quebec Solidarity the proposals from the different neighborhood Fund developed by the labor movement in the assemblies together and reconcile them into a 1980s. The purpose of these funds is to use coherent city budget. This basic model has investments deliberately to protect and create spread to many other cities in Latin America jobs rather than simply to maximize returns and elsewhere, most recently to some city for retirement. One way the Solidarity Fund council districts in Chicago and New York. accomplishes this is by directly investing in The result is a budget that much more closely small and medium enterprises, either through reflects the democratic ideal of citizens’ equal private equity investment or loans. These access to participate meaningfully in the exer- investments are generally directed at firms cise of power. strongly rooted in the region and satisfy vari- ous criteria in a social audit. The Solidarity Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an example of Fund is also involved in these firms’ gover- something no one would have thought possi- nance, often by having representation on the ble until it happened. Several hundred board of directors. Investments are typically thousand people around the world actively made in firms with a significant union pres- cooperate without pay to write and edit the ence, because this helps solve information world’s largest encyclopedia (more than 4 problems about a firm’s economic viability million English language entries in 2012, and and facilitates monitoring firm compliance some version of Wikipedia in more than 100 with the side conditions of investment. Soli- languages), which is made available without darity finance thus goes beyond ordinary charge to anyone in the world who has access socially screened investments in being much to the Internet.15 The quality is uneven in more actively and directly engaged in the places but overall quite high. Wikipedia is the project of allocating capital on the basis of best known example of a more general model social priorities. of nonhierarchical cooperative economic activity: peer-to-peer distributed production Worker-owned cooperatives. Perhaps with open source property rights.16 the oldest vision for an emancipatory alterna- tive to capitalism is the worker-owned firm. Public libraries. “To each according to Capitalism began by dispossessing workers of need” is part of a familiar distributional prin- their means of production and then employing ciple associated with Karl Marx. You go into them as wage-laborers in capitalist firms. The a library and check out the books you need. most straightforward undoing of that dispos- You go to a bookstore, go to the shelf, find the session is its reversal through worker-owned book you need, open it up, see that it is too firms. In most times and places, however, expensive and put it back. Public libraries are worker cooperatives are quite marginal within fundamentally anti-capitalist institutions that market economies, occupying small niches allocate resources on the basis of need and rather than the core of an economic system. ration them by waiting lists. Some libraries One striking exception is the Mondragon lend much more than books: music, videos, Cooperative Corporation in the Basque region art work, even tools. They often provide of Spain, a conglomerate of more than 100 public space for meetings. They increase separate worker cooperatives that produce a equality in access to the material conditions wide range of goods and services, including necessary to live a flourishing life. high-end refrigerators, auto parts, bicycles, industrial robots, and much more. Coopera- Solidarity finance. Unions and other tives in the conglomerate have weathered the organizations in civil society often manage severe Spanish economic crisis much better pension funds for their members. In effect this than conventional capitalist firms.

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The Quebec social economy council. reciprocity and cooperation rather than ordi- The term “social economy” refers to a variety nary commodified exchange.17 of economic organizations, often community- based, that produce directly to meet needs Randomocracy. Democratic governance rather than for profit. Examples in Quebec is generally thought of as involving either include community-based daycare centers, elected representatives or direct participatory elder-care services, job-training centers, and assemblies. A third form involves representa- social housing. Quebec has a democratically tion without elections through randomly elected council, the chantier de l’économie selected assemblies. The jury is the classic sociale, with representatives from all the dif- example. In ancient Athens, legislation was ferent sectors of the social economy, that done by an assembly of citizens chosen by lot. organizes initiatives to enhance the social Today, policy juries adopt that procedure for economy, mediates its relation to the provin- various kinds of public policy in situations cial government, and extends its role in the where nonpoliticians might have a greater overall regional economy. The chantier capacity to weigh alternatives in a disinter- enhances democratic-egalitarian principles by ested community-oriented way. One could fostering economic activity organized around also imagine a two-chamber legislative needs and developing new forms of demo- system in which one house is elected and the cratic representation and coordination for the other is a citizens assembly of randomly social economy. chosen representatives. Such institutions allow for ordinary citizens’ capacities and Urban agriculture with community ideas to be deployed in democratic gover- land trusts. A number of cities in the United nance at geographical scales where direct States have community initiatives for develop- democracy would not be feasible.18 ing urban agriculture. Some of these have the familiar character of community gardens with Unconditional basic income. Uncon- individual plots, but in some cities there are ditional basic income (UBI) is a proposal to serious efforts to develop community-based give every legal resident of a territory an urban farms capable of providing work for income sufficient to live above the poverty people and offering partial solutions to prob- line without any work requirement or other lems of the “food desert” in decayed central conditions. Nearly all existing public pro- cities. A critical issue in such efforts is the grams of income support would be eliminated. nature of property rights involved in urban Minimum wage laws would also be elimi- agriculture and how such development can be nated because there would no longer be any sustained in a way that is accountable to reason to prohibit low-wage voluntary con- communities. The proposal for community tracts once a person’s basic needs are not land-trusts for urban agriculture is one contingent on that wage. UBI opens up a wide approach to this problem. array of new possibilities for people. It guar- antees that any young person can do an unpaid Internet-based reciprocity economy internship, not just those who have affluent in music. In a stylized way, musicians’ lives parents who are prepared to subsidize them. are polarized between starving artists and Worker cooperatives would become much celebrities. The Internet opens up a potential more viable because worker-owners’ basic space for musicians to earn a middle-class needs would not depend on the income gener- standard of living in between these extremes. ated by the enterprise. This also means worker The idea is that musicians create websites that cooperatives would be better credit risks to offer free downloads of their music, and then banks, making it easier for cooperatives to get ask people to pay whatever they want. loans. If it could be instituted at a relatively Through this mechanism, musicians establish generous level, UBI would move us deci- a direct relation to fans based on norms of sively toward the egalitarian principle of

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at ASA - American Sociological Association on January 29, 2013 12 American Sociological Review XX(X) giving everyone equal access to the condi- a deliberately stripped-down concept of tions to live a flourishing life. power: power is the capacity to do things in the world, to produce effects. This might be Many other examples could be added to called an “agent-centered” notion of power: this list. Taken one at a time, especially in people, acting individually and collectively, limited and incomplete forms, they do not use power to accomplish things. constitute significant challenges to capital- With this broad definition of power, we can ism’s dominance within an economy. But distinguish three kinds of power deployed within taken collectively and scaled up, they poten- economic systems: economic power, rooted in tially constitute elements of a more compre- control over the use of economic resources; state hensive alternative. In the next section I will power, rooted in control over rule making and elaborate a general framework that embeds rule enforcing over territory; and what I term these kinds of partial and limited transforma- social power, rooted in the capacity to mobilize tions in a system alternative. people for cooperative, voluntary collective actions. Expressed as a mnemonic slogan, you can get people to do things by bribing them, A General Framework forcing them, or persuading them. Every eco- for the Analysis of Real nomic system involves all three forms of power, Utopian Alternatives to connected in different ways. Capitalism Three ideal types of economic structures— capitalism, statism, and socialism—can be Both social democracy and socialism contain differentiated in terms of the dominant form the word “social,” but generally this term is of power controlling economic activity:19 invoked in a loose and ill-defined way. The suggestion is of a political program committed Capitalism is an economic structure within to the broad welfare of society rather than to which economic activity is controlled the narrow interests of particular elites. through the exercise of economic power. Sometimes, especially in more radical versions of socialist discourse, “social ownership” of Statism is an economic structure within the means of production is invoked as a con- which economic activity is controlled trast to “private ownership,” but in practice this through the exercise of state power. State is generally collapsed into state ownership, and officials control the investment process and the term social itself ends up doing relatively production through some sort of state- little analytical work in the elaboration of the administrative mechanism. political program. I will argue that the social in social democracy and socialism can be used to Socialism is an economic structure within identify a cluster of principles and visions of which economic activity is controlled change that differentiate socialism and social through the exercise of social power. This is democracy from both the capitalist project of equivalent to saying that the economy is economic organization and what could be democratic. called a purely statist response to capitalism. At the center of the analysis is a power- These three forms of economic structure can centered framework for understanding capi- never exist in the world in pure form but are talism and its alternatives. Power is an always combined in various complex ways. especially elusive and contested concept in Real economic systems are always hybrids that social theory, often formulated in opaque vary according to how these different forms of ways that make it very difficult to use in con- power interact. To call an economy capitalist is crete discussions of institutions and their thus shorthand for a more cumbersome expres- transformation. In the present context, I adopt sion such as “an economic hybrid combining

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State Economic Social Three types of power: Power Power Power

Interaction of forms of power:

Strength and autonomy of power: = primary = secondary

Illustrations

1. Conventional democracy: state power Social State is subordinated to social power Power Power

2. Corporate control of political parties: a Social form of social power (political parties) Economic Power is subordinated to economic power Power

3. Corporate control of state power Economic Social State via its control over parties Power Power Power

4. Social control of economic power Social State Economic via the democratic state regulation Power Power Power of capital

Figure 1. Visual Representation of Power Configurations capitalist, statist, and socialist economic rela- A Visual Vocabulary tions within which capitalist relations are dom- inant.” The idea of a structural hybrid can be To explore the problem of deepening the used to analyze any unit of analysis—firms, socialist component within hybrid economic sectors, regional economies, national econo- systems, it will be useful to visually depict mies, even the global economy. The possibility different patterns of interconnection among of socialism thus depends on our ability to the three forms of power within economic enlarge and deepen the socialist component of systems. Figure 1 illustrates the visual vocab- the hybrid and weaken the capitalist and statist ulary I use for this purpose. components. Arrows in Figure 1 indicate the direction of This way of thinking about economic sys- influence of one form of power over the use of tems means abandoning a simple binary another; the arrows’ width indicates the notion of capitalism versus socialism. An strength of this relationship. Thus, in the first economic structure can be more or less capi- illustration in Figure 1, state power is subordi- talist, more or less statist, more or less social- nated to social power. This is what is meant ist.20 Our task, then, is to clarify the alternative conventionally by political democracy as ways in which we can conceptualize the “rule by the people”: people voluntarily form deepening of hybrids’ socialist component. I associations—most notably political parties— refer to this as the problem of structural con- for the purpose of controlling the use of state figurations of social empowerment. power through the institutional mechanism of

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Economic Power

Economic Activity: Configurations of Capitalist Social investment, Empowerment Power production, and distribution of goods and services

State Power

Economic Power

Configurations of Socialist Economic Activity: investment, Empowerment Social production, and Power distribution of goods and services

State Power

Figure 2. Aggregate Configurations of Capitalist Empowerment and Socialist Empowerment elections. In a democracy, state power is still corporate influence over state power occurs important—Why have a democracy if the through subordination of political parties to state has no capacity to do anything?—but this economic power. Finally, in the fourth illustra- power is not autonomously exercised by state tion, social power subordinates economic power officials; it is subordinated to social power. through the mediation of state power. This is the In the second illustration, economic power ideal of social democracy: the state effectively subordinates social power. An example is the regulates the behavior of capitalist firms but is unrestrained use of donations by corporations itself democratically subordinated to social and the wealthy to fund political parties in the power. United States. Political parties still matter— Figure 2 illustrates the different aggregate they are the vehicles for selecting state offi- configurations of forms of power within a cials who directly exercise state power—but dominant capitalist hybrid economy and the social power mobilized by political par- within a dominant socialist hybrid economy. ties is itself subordinated by the exercise of In these diagrams, the arrows are all directed economic power. toward explaining control over economic These configurations can be connected in activity: investments, production, and distri- chains of power relations, as in the third and bution of goods and services. In the picture of fourth illustrations. In the third illustration, capitalist empowerment, both social power

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at ASA - American Sociological Association on January 29, 2013 Wright 15 and state power are subordinated to economic Economic power in control over economic activity; in Power the case of socialist empowerment, both eco- nomic power and state power are subordi- nated to social power. Social Economic Power Activity Configurations of Socialist Empowerment: elements for building a State socialist hybrid Power

For my purposes here, these schematic repre- Figure 3. Statist Socialism sentations make it possible to differentiate salient configurations of social empower- ment. Different kinds of progressive policies, Economic institutional innovations and proposals, strat- Power egies, and reforms can be located within seven such configurations: (1) statist social- ism; (2) social democratic statist regulation; (3) associational democracy; (4) social capi- Social Economic talism; (5) the core social economy; (6) the Power Activity cooperative market economy; and (7) partici- patory socialism. I will discuss each of these briefly. State Power 1. Statist Socialism Figure 4. A Configuration of Statist The configuration in Figure 3 corresponds to Empowerment: Authoritarian Statism the classical definition of socialism in which social power controls economic activity via the state. The economy is directly controlled by The experience of authoritarian statism the exercise of state power—through, for has justifiably led to great skepticism about example, state ownership and control over the the desirability of the centralized state plan- commanding heights of the economy—while, ning model of socialism. Nevertheless, the at the same time, state power is itself subordi- power configuration of statist socialism nated to social power by being democratically remains an important component of any pros- accountable to the people. This is the configu- pect for transcending capitalism, particularly ration at the core of traditional Marxist ideas of for large infrastructure projects, various kinds revolutionary socialism. This is not, of course, of natural monopolies, and probably for at how twentieth-century revolutions that least some elements of the financial system. occurred in the name of socialism turned out. Once the power of revolutionary parties was 2. Social Democracy I: Social consolidated in the form of the one-party state, Democratic Statist Regulation “actually existing socialism” became a form of authoritarian statism in which, as illustrated in In the second configuration (Figure 5), social Figure 4, both social power within civil society power regulates the economy through and economic power were subordinated to the mediation of both state power and eco- state power. nomic power. This is a key aspect of social

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Economic Economic Power Power

Social Economic Social Economic Power Activity Power Activity

State State Power Power

Figure 5. Social Democracy I: Social Figure 6. A Configuration of Capitalist Democratic Statist Regulation Empowerment: Capitalist Statist Regulation

democracy. Capitalist economic power Economic directly controls economic activity—capitalists Power continue to make investments, hire managers, and organize the labor process—but this power is regulated by state power, which is in turn subordinated to social power. Through a Social Economic transitivity of power relations, this means that Power Activity social power exerts regulative control over the exercise of economic power. Forms of the regulation of capital that improve working State conditions and job security and protect the Power environment generally reflect this kind of democratic imposition of constraints. Figure 7. Social Democracy II: Statist regulation of capitalist economic Associational Democracy power, however, need not imply significant social empowerment. As in the case of statist socialism, the issue here is the extent and depth to which the state’s power is a genuine 3. Social Democracy II: Associational expression of democratic empowerment of Democracy civil society. In actual capitalist societies, Associational democracy (Figure 7) covers a much statist economic regulation is in fact wide range of institutional devices through itself subordinated to economic power, as which collective associations in civil society illustrated in Figure 6. In capitalist statist directly participate in various kinds of gover- regulation, state power regulates capital but in nance activities, usually along with state agen- ways that are systematically responsive to the cies. The most familiar form of this is probably power of capital itself. In the United States, the tripartite neo-corporatist arrangements in for example, industry associations are heavily some social democratic societies in which involved in shaping federal regulation of air- organized labor, employers’ associations, and lines, energy, agriculture, and other sectors. the state bargain over various kinds of eco- Perhaps even more pervasively, the state’s nomic regulations, especially concerning the structural dependency on the capitalist econ- labor market and employment relations. omy underwrites this configuration of power Associational democracy can extend to many relations.21 other domains, such as watershed councils

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Economic Economic Power Power

Social Economic Social Economic Power Activity Power Activity

State State Power Power

Figure 8. Social Economy I: Social Figure 9. A Configuration of Capitalist Capitalism Empowerment: Corporate Capitalist Self- regulation that bring together civic associations, environ- mental groups, developers, and state agencies not mean that it constitutes a form of social to regulate ecosystems, or health councils empowerment. In Figure 9, social power in which medical associations, community affects the exercise of economic power but it organizations, and public health officials plan does so in a way that is itself subordinated to various aspects of health care. To the extent economic power. An example would be trade that the associations involved are internally associations formed by voluntary cooperation democratic and representative of interests in among capitalist firms for the purpose of set- civil society, and the decision-making process ting industry standards. This kind of collec- in which they are engaged is open and delib- tively organized self-regulation constitutes a erative, rather than heavily manipulated by configuration of capitalist empowerment, not elites and the state, then associational democ- socialist empowerment. racy can contribute to social empowerment. 5. Social Economy II: The Core Social 4. Social Economy I: Social Economy Capitalism The core social economy goes beyond social I use the term “social economy” to designate capitalism by constituting an alternative way all configurations of social empowerment of directly organizing economic activity that within an economy in which the state is not is distinct from capitalist market production, directly involved.22 The first social economy state organized production, and household configuration is “social capitalism.” This is production (Figure 10). Its hallmark is pro- not a standard expression. I use it to describe duction organized by collectivities directly to a power configuration in which secondary satisfy human needs, not subject to the disci- associations of civil society, through a variety pline of profit-maximization or state-techno- of mechanisms, directly affect the way eco- cratic rationality. The state may be involved nomic power is used (Figure 8). The Solidarity in funding these collectivities, but it does not Funds in Quebec are a good example. directly organize them or their services. Stakeholder boards of directors of corpora- Quebec’s system of daycare provision is a tions, in which all stakeholders in a corpora- good example. In 2008, parents paid only tion’s activities are represented, are also a seven Canadian dollars per day for preschool- form of social capitalism. age children for full-time daycare provided The simple fact that social power has an by community-based nonprofit daycare cen- impact on economic power, however, does ters, but provincial government subsidies

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Economic Economic Power Power

Social Economic Social Economic Power Activity Power Activity

State State Power Power

Figure 10. Social Economy II: The Core Figure 11. Social Economy III: Cooperative Social Economy Market Economy ensured that providers were paid a living such a market stretches the social character of wage. These daycare centers were often ownership within individual cooperative organized as “solidarity cooperatives,” an enterprises and moves governance toward a organizational form governed by elected stakeholder model, in which cooperative representatives of staff, consumers (parents in enterprises are governed by democratic bodies this case), and community members. Wikipedia representing all categories of people whose is another striking example of the core social lives are affected by the enterprises’ economic economy. Wikipedia produces knowledge activity. The Mondragon Cooperative and disseminates information outside of mar- Corporation is an example. Such firms remain kets and without state support; funding comes a hybrid economic form, combining capitalist largely from donations from participants and and socialist elements, but the socialist com- supporters. ponent has considerable weight.

6. Social Economy III: Cooperative 7. Participatory Socialism Market Economy The final configuration of social empower- In a fully worker-owned cooperative firm in a ment combines the social economy and statist capitalist economy, the egalitarian principle of socialism: the state and civil society jointly one-person one-vote means that power rela- organize and control various kinds of produc- tions within the firm are based on voluntary tion of goods and services (Figure 12). In cooperation and persuasion, not the relative participatory socialism, the state’s role is more economic power of different people. Through pervasive than in the pure social economy. democratic means, all workers, or members, The state does not simply provide funding and jointly control the economic power repre- set the parameters; it is also, in various ways, sented by the capital in the firm. And if indi- directly involved in the organization and pro- vidual cooperative firms join together in larger duction of economic activity. On the other associations of cooperatives—perhaps even a hand, participatory socialism is also different cooperative-of-cooperatives, collectively pro- from statist socialism, for here social power viding finance, training, and other kinds of plays a role not simply through the ordinary support—they begin to transcend the capitalist channels of democratic control of state poli- character of their economic environment by cies, but directly inside the productive activi- constituting a cooperative market economy ties themselves. A good example is the (Figure 11). The overarching cooperative in participatory budget in urban government.

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Economic Economic Power Power

Social Economic Power Activity Social Economic Power Activity

State Power State Power Figure 12. Participatory Socialism

Socialist configurations Because these budgets constitute allocations Social democracy configurations of resources to produce infrastructure to meet Social economy configurations human needs, they should be treated as an aspect of economic activity; participatory Figure 13. Combined Configurations of budgets are thus not simply a form of demo- Social Empowerment cratic participation in the state, but are part of a participatory socialist economy. directly involved in shaping economic activity and how it indirectly shapes economic activity The Seven Configurations Together through the democratization of the state. As summarized in Figure 13, these different configurations of social empowerment can be clustered into three broad groups, each corre- Transformation sponding to different political traditions of Transforming capitalism in a socialist direc- socioeconomic transformation: a socialist tion means democratizing the economy cluster, a social economy cluster, and a social through the seven configurations summarized democratic cluster. These different clusters in Figure 13. In this process, the economic vary in the role they accord to the state and the structure remains a hybrid combining capital- extent to which they attempt to subordinate ist, statist, and socialist practices and rela- rather than bypass capitalist economic power. tions, but the socialist dimension gains weight What all of the configurations have in com- and centrality. Extending and deepening mon is the idea of democratization of power social power in any one of these configura- over economic life by subordinating economic tions may be quite compatible with maintain- and state power to social power—power ing the dominance of capitalism, but if it is rooted in voluntary cooperation for collective possible to increase social power within all of action. Of course, the ideal of socialism these configurations, the cumulative effect involves much more than this. Equality and could be a qualitative transformation in which social justice are also core traditional socialist socialism becomes the dominant form of rela- values, to which environmental sustainability tions within a complex economic hybrid, should be added today. What this model of subordinating both capitalism and statism socialism stresses, however, is that the realiza- within democratized power relations. tion of all these values depends on the trans- This, of course, is a very big if. Skepticism formation of power relations over economic toward socialism at the beginning of the activity, both in terms of how social power is twenty-first century is at least as much about

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at ASA - American Sociological Association on January 29, 2013 20 American Sociological Review XX(X) the prospects of challenging the dominance of Three strategic logics of transformation capitalist relations as it is about the viability have characterized the history of anti-capitalist of alternative institutions. The power of capi- struggle. I refer to these as ruptural, intersti- tal seems so massive that if ever social power tial, and symbiotic strategies. seemed to threaten the dominance of capital- Ruptural transformations envision creating ism, it would be relentlessly attacked and new emancipatory institutions through a sharp undermined. Real progress in advancing the break with existing institutions and social project of democratizing the economy through structures. The central image is a war in which these configurations seems impossible so victory ultimately depends on decisive defeat long as capitalism is dominant. For this rea- of the enemy in a direct confrontation. Victory son, radical anti-capitalists have often results in a radical disjuncture in which exist- believed that decisively breaking the power ing institutions are destroyed and new ones of capital is a precondition for significant are built fairly rapidly. In most versions, this movement toward socialism rather than revolutionary scenario involves seizing state mainly a consequence of such movement. power, rapidly transforming state structures, Marx had an elegant solution to this prob- and then using these new apparatuses of state lem. He believed that in the long run capital- power to destroy the power of the dominant ism destroyed its own conditions of existence: class within the economy. the laws of motion and contradictions of Interstitial transformations seek to build capitalism ultimately make capitalism an new forms of social empowerment in capital- increasingly fragile and vulnerable system in ist society’s niches and margins, often where which the ability of the ruling class and its they do not seem to pose any immediate threat political allies to block transformation to dominant classes and elites. Prodhoun’s becomes progressively weaker. Eventually vision of building a cooperative alternative to capitalism simply becomes unsustainable. capitalism within capitalism itself is a nine- This was a strong prediction, not simply a teenth-century version of this perspective. The weak claim about future possibilities.23 This many experiments in the social economy does not solve the problem of how to build an today are also examples. The central theoreti- emancipatory alternative to capitalism, but at cal idea is that building alternatives on the least it makes the problem of overcoming the ground in whatever spaces are possible both obstacles of existing power relations much serves a critical ideological function by show- less daunting in the long run. ing that alternative ways of working and liv- Relatively few people today—even those ing are possible, and potentially erodes who still work within the Marxist tradition— constraints on the spaces themselves.24 feel confident that capitalism will destroy Symbiotic transformations involve strate- itself. Capitalism may be crisis-ridden and gies in which extending and deepening institu- cause great suffering in the world, but it also tional forms of social empowerment involving has an enormous capacity to effectively block the state and civil society simultaneously help alternatives. The problem of its transforma- to solve practical problems faced by dominant tion, at least in the developed world, therefore classes and elites. In the 1970s, this was called cannot be treated as mainly the problem of “nonreformist reforms”—reforms that simul- seizing the time when capitalism through its taneously make life better within the existing own contradictions becomes so weak and economic system and expand the potential for chaotic that it is vulnerable to being over- future advances of democratic power. It is also thrown. Rather, the problem of transforma- reflected in a variety of forms of civic activ- tion requires understanding how strategies of ism in which social movements, local leaders, transformation have long-term prospects for and city governments collaborate in ways that eroding capitalist power relations and build- both enhance democracy and solve practical ing up socialist alternatives. problems.

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All three of these strategic logics have his- to work to create institutions and structures torically had a place within anti-capitalist social that increase, rather than decrease, the pros- movements and politics. Ruptural strategies are pects of taking advantage of whatever histori- most closely associated with revolutionary cal opportunities emerge. Building real utopias socialism and communism, interstitial strate- can both prefigure more comprehensive alter- gies with some strands of anarchism, and sym- natives and move us in the direction of those biotic strategies with social democracy. It is alternatives. easy to raise objections to each of them. Rup- In these terms, I think the best prospect for tural strategies have a grandiose, romantic the future is a strategic orientation organized appeal to critics of capitalism, but the historical around the interplay of interstitial and symbi- record is pretty dismal. There are no cases in otic strategies, with perhaps periodic episodes which socialism as defined here—a deeply involving elements of ruptural strategy. democratic and egalitarian organization of Through interstitial strategies, activists and power relations within an economy—has been communities can build and strengthen real the result of a ruptural strategy of transforma- utopian economic institutions embodying tion of capitalism. In practice, ruptural strate- democratic egalitarian principles. Symbiotic gies seem more prone to result in authoritarian strategies through the state can help open up statism than in democratic socialism. Interstitial greater space and support for these interstitial strategies may produce improvements in peo- innovations. The interplay between interstitial ple’s lives and pockets of more democratic and symbiotic strategies could then create a egalitarian practices, but nowhere have they trajectory of deepening socialist elements succeeded in significantly eroding capitalist within the hybrid capitalist system. power relations. As for symbiotic strategies, in Worker cooperatives are a good example. the most successful instances of social democ- Under existing conditions, worker cooperatives racy they have certainly resulted in a more face serious obstacles to becoming a significant humane capitalism, with less poverty, less component of market economies: credit mar- inequality, and less insecurity, but they have kets are skeptical of worker-owned firms; risk- done so in ways that stabilize capitalism and averse workers are reluctant to sink their leave intact the core powers of capital. Histori- savings in a venture that has low probability of cally, any advance of symbiotic strategies that success; and cooperatives face supply chains in appeared to potentially threaten those core which, because of scale, they pay higher costs powers was massively resisted by capital. The than capitalist corporate rivals. Symbiotic strat- reaction of Swedish capitalists to proposals for egies directed at public policy could address all serious union involvement in control over of these issues. Given the potential for worker- investments in the late 1970s is one of the best owned cooperatives to help solve problems of known examples. These are all reasonable unemployment and deteriorating tax bases, objections. Taken together they suggest to new rules of the game to support cooperatives many people that transcending capitalism could gain political traction. Even within the through some kind of long-term coherent strat- logic of market economies, the positive exter- egy is simply not possible. nalities of worker cooperatives provide a justi- Pessimism is intellectually easy, perhaps fication for public subsidies and insurance even intellectually lazy. It often reflects a sim- schemes to increase their viability. Such poli- ple extrapolation of past experience into the cies could, over time, expand the weight of a future. Our theories of the future, however, are cooperative market economy within the broader far too weak to really make confident claims capitalist economic hybrid. that we know what cannot happen. The appro- Such a combination of symbiotic and priate orientation toward strategies of social interstitial strategies does not imply that the transformation, therefore, is to do things now process of transformation could ever follow a that put us in the best position to do more later, smooth path of enlightened cooperation

Downloaded from asr.sagepub.com at ASA - American Sociological Association on January 29, 2013 22 American Sociological Review XX(X) between conflicting class forces. What is at create real utopias involve showing that stake here is a transformation of the core another world is possible by building it in the power relations of capitalism, and this ulti- spaces available, and then pushing against the mately threatens the interests of capitalists. state and public policy to expand those spaces. Although elites may become resigned to a For many people these kinds of interstitial diminution of power, they are unlikely to initiatives also have the advantage of generat- gracefully embrace the prospect. Symbiotic ing immediate, tangible results in which each transformations help solve problems within person’s contribution clearly matters. A vision capitalism, but they often are not optimal for of emancipatory alternatives anchored in the elites and are thus resisted.25 This means that multidimensional and multiscalar problem of a key element of ruptural strategies—confron- deepening democracy can encompass this tations between opposing organized social wide range of strategies and projects of trans- forces in which there are winners and losers— formation. Because democracy is such a core will be a part of any plausible trajectory of value in most developed capitalist societies— sustainable social empowerment. The purpose both symbolically and substantively—a broad of such confrontations, however, is not a sys- political project for a truly democratic society temic rupture with capitalist dominance, but may also capture the popular imagination. rather creation of more space for the interplay of interstitial and symbiotic strategies. Notes 1. Hayek’s two propositions are rooted in a view about the difficulty in generating a coherent social equilib- Conclusions rium in which different kinds of social actors’ expectations and behaviors mesh in ways that allow The framework proposed here for a socialism for the necessary minimum level of social stability. rooted in social empowerment involves a Social systems, in Hayek’s view, can coherently tol- commitment to institutional pluralism and erate only slow, evolutionary processes of change heterogeneity. Instead of a unitary institu- and dispersed adaptation. In this view of the inherent tional design for transcending capitalism, the fragility of social integration, the inevitable unin- tended consequence of abrupt deliberate change is configurations of social empowerment open social disintegration; and in response to the resulting up space for a wide diversity of institutional chaos, the inevitable consequence is state oppres- forms. Worker cooperatives and local social sion as the only way of maintaining social order economy projects, state-run banks and enter- (thus “the road to serfdom” is the prediction of prises, social democratic regulation of corpo- attempts at revolution). No presumption of bad faith on the part of revolutionaries is needed here, only rations, solidarity finance, and participatory self-deception, wishful thinking, and arrogance. budgeting all potentially undermine the dom- 2. Unintended consequences refer to all side effects of inance of capitalism and increase the weight a transformation that were not part of the motiva- of social power within the economic hybrid. tions for the transformations. Some of these might The institutional pluralism of the destina- be positive, but many are negative. Self-destructive dynamics are a particular kind of negative unin- tion suggests strategic pluralism in the prac- tended consequence: side effects that over time tices of transformation. Within some of these destroy the conditions of possibility for sustaining configurations, strengthening social power the transformation itself. Dilemmas of normative requires state power. But other configurations trade-offs refer to the fact that the more values one can be advanced without state involvement. cares about the more implausible it is that any given institutional arrangement can fully realize all of This is especially true for the social economy them. If our emancipatory ideals include an array of initiatives. Activists on the left, especially complexly interconnected values—for example, those on the radical left, often regard these freedom, democracy, equality, sustainability, com- kinds of locally oriented, community-based munity, and individuality—then institutional initiatives as not being very political, because transformations will inevitably confront tensions and contradictions across these values. A real uto- they do not always involve direct confronta- pian worries about this; a pure utopian does not. tion with political power. This is a narrow 3. The idea of flourishing proposed here is closely view of politics. Interstitial strategies to related to the idea of “capabilities” developed by

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Sen (1999) and Nussbaum (2000). For a more idea of a market economy. Capitalism is not simply extended discussion of flourishing, see Wright an economy in which markets play a central role in (2010: chapter 2). coordinating economic activity; it is a specific kind 4. How much responsibility should be accorded indi- of market economy, one in which workers do not viduals for their choices is, of course, a profoundly own and control the firms in which they work, capi- difficult philosophical issue. There is always a ten- tal is privately owned and allocated to alternative sion between sociological explanations of behavior, purposes on the basis of private economic returns which look to the causes behind the choices people (or, equivalently, on the basis of private profit-mak- make, and assignment of moral responsibility to ing), and labor is allocated to economic activities people for their choices. In general, egalitarian the- through labor markets. ories of justice allow for inequalities to emerge that 10. There are obviously many complications to this are the result of choices and effort, but not the result simple characterization. Use of taxes to build infra- of forces outside a person’s control for which they structure, for example, is a public allocation of have no responsibility. Drawing unambiguous lines capital. As I will argue later in this address, to the of demarcation between these sources of inequality extent that capital in the economy is allocated by is probably impossible. the state through taxes and other mechanisms, the 5. Fraser (1997, 2000) emphasizes the idea of social economy becomes less fully capitalist. recognition as an integral element in justice. For a 11. The “structural power” of capital refers to the ways discussion of the interconnection of class and rec- in which capitalists’ interests powerfully constrain ognition as moral issues, see Sayer (2005). states’ actions because of the state’s dependency on 6. The key idea here is that all these forms of social the vitality of capital accumulation. For now classic exclusion have equal moral standing. This is dis- discussions, see Block (1977), Lindbloom (1977), tinct from the question of the explanatory relevance and Przeworski (1985). of any given form of exclusion for access to the 12. For a good discussion of the problem of dictatorial conditions to live a flourishing life, either in the workplaces as a fundamental violation of demo- lives of specific people or in the social institutions cratic principles, see Dahl (1985). of a particular society. 13. For a discussion of the possibility of prosperity 7. It is obviously a deeply controversial claim that without growth, see Jackson (2009). principles of egalitarian social justice apply to citi- 14. See Schor (1993) for a discussion of the consumer- zenship status and geographic location. Some ist imperative in capitalism. philosophers have argued that principles of justice 15. Unequal access to the Internet remains a significant fully apply only within states’ jurisdictions, for it is problem, especially globally, which limits access to only states that can enforce the “rules of the game” Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundations—the orga- that govern distribution, opportunities, and rights. nization that runs the infrastructure for States’ geographically limited jurisdictions may be Wikipedia—recognizes this problem and is devel- a powerful fact about the world that limits our abil- oping new technologies to make Wikipedia ity to move toward global social justice, but I do not available free on flash drives to libraries and public think it defines the central meaning of the moral schools in developing countries that lack Internet imperative itself. connections. 8. Some environmentalists will be critical of this 16. For an extended theoretical and empirical discus- anthropocentric view of sustainability. I care about sion of such innovative collaborative forms of global warming and other environmental issues production, see Benkler (2006). mainly because of their consequences for human 17. See Belsky and colleagues (2010). flourishing. If we currently lived in an ice age and 18. For a general discussion of randomized assemblies global warming would make the planet more temper- as a way of enhancing democracy, see Gastil and ate and benevolent for human beings, then it would Richards (2012). be of much less concern. As a practical matter in the 19. This is not meant to be a complete theoretical speci- world today, it probably does not matter whether one fication of the differences between these three types anchors the principle of sustainability in human of economic structures, but only their differentia- flourishing for future generations or some broader tion in terms of power relations. For a fuller notion of the well-being of all living creatures. Both discussion, see Wright (2010:11–123). perspectives demand strong efforts to reduce envi- 20. It is an important, but unresolved, empirical ques- ronmental damage. An anthropocentric perspective tion how stable different kinds of hybrids might be. on the environment does not license environmental One traditional Marxian view is that any capitalist destruction, because destruction is harmful to future hybrid with significant socialist elements would be and current generations of people; it merely specifies inherently unstable. The only stable equilibria are why such destruction is a moral issue. ones in which socialism is unequivocally dominant, 9. A brief note on the definition of capitalism is or capitalism is unequivocally dominant and social- needed. Many people equate capitalism with the ist elements only fill small niches in the economic

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system in ways that are functional for capitalism. solving problems of capitalist reproduction), but An alternative view is that there may be multiple some are better for capitalists than others and some relatively stable equilibria involving all three eco- involve more social empowerment than others. A nomic forms, and that it is even possible for there to symbiotic transformation is one that seeks to be an equilibrium involving no clear dominance expand social empowerment while still achieving among them. The extent to which any given con- an institutional equilibrium that contributes to an figuration could be stable depends on a complex adequately well-functioning capitalism. This often array of contingent historical and political factors requires blocking capitalists’ preferred solution. As and this makes it impossible to make any general, Rogers (Wright and Rogers 2011:164) has put it, to abstract propositions about what is really possible. get capitalists to accept the high road, it is necessary 21. Much of the theory of the capitalist character of the to close off the low road. capitalist state developed in the late 1960s and 1970s can be interpreted as an attempt to explain how, in spite of the state’s democratic form, much— References perhaps most—intervention by the state in the Belsky, Leah, Byron Kahr, Max Berkelhammer, and capitalist economy is subordinated to the needs of Yochai Benkler. 2010. “Everything In Its Right capital rather than the collective will of the people, Place: Social Cooperation and Artist Compensation.” and thus, in the present terms, is an expression of Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law economic rather than social power. This argument is Review 17. especially well formulated by Offe (1974) and Benkler, Yochai. 2006. The Wealth of Networks: How Therborn (1978). Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. 22. Of course, in a sense the state is always involved in New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. all economic activities insofar as it enforces rules of Block, Fred. 1977. “The Ruling Class Does Not Rule.” the game and imposes taxes. The issue here is that Socialist Revolution 33:6–28. in a social economy the state operates in a relatively Dahl, Robert. 1985. A Preface to Economic Democracy. passive way in the background rather than directly Berkeley: University of California Press. organizing economic activity or regulating eco- Fraser, Nancy. 1997. Justice Interruptus. New York: nomic power. Because the state is on the sidelines Routledge. of the social economy, political conservatives and Fraser, Nancy. 2000. “Rethinking Recognition.” New Left libertarians are often relatively enthusiastic about Review 3:107–120. social economy initiatives, particularly when these Gastil, John and Robert Richards. 2012. “Making Direct activities are anchored in religious communities or Democracy Deliberative through Random Assem- other socially conservative organizations. When the blies.” Presented at the 2012 annual meeting of the social economy embodies ideals of economic American Sociological Association, Denver, Colorado. democracy involving real mobilization of social Hayek, Frederick A. 1988. The Fatal Conceit: The Errors power and efforts at subordinating economic power, of Socialism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. the initiatives pose a bigger challenge to free market Jackson, Tim. 2009. Prosperity without Growth: Eco- ideologies. nomics For a Finite Planet. New York: Routledge. 23. Although there is considerable debate on this Lindbloom, Charles. 1977. Politics and Markets: The matter, I think Marx was largely a determinist about World’s Political-Economic Systems. New York: Basic. the ultimate demise of capitalism, even if he was Nussbaum, Martha C. 2000. Women and Human Devel- not a determinist about the process of actually con- opment: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge, UK: structing socialism. Capitalism could not, he Cambridge University Press. believed, survive indefinitely in the face of intensi- Offe, Claus. 1974. “Structural Problems of the Capital- fication of the contradictions generated by its laws ist State: Class Rule and the Political System. On the of motion. For my assessment of this argument, see Selectiveness of Political Institutions.” Pp. 31–45 in Wright (2010: chapter 4). German Political Studies, edited by K. Von Beyme. 24. The idea of interstitial transformation resonates Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. with various strands of nonviolent activism in Przeworski, Adam. 1985. Capitalism and Social Democ- which people are exhorted (in words apocryphally racy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. attributed to Gandhi) to “be the change you want to Sayer, Andrew. 2005. The Moral Significance of Class. see in the world.” The difference is that interstitial Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. transformation involves collectively building new Schor, Juliet. 1993. The Overworked American: The institutions, not just individually behaving in a dig- Unexpected Decline of Leisure. New York: Basic nified, value-affirming way. Books. 25. As I discuss in Wright (2010: chapter 11), the basic Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as Freedom. Oxford, idea here is that there are multiple institutional equi- UK: Oxford University Press. libria within capitalism, all of which are functionally Therborn, Göran. 1978. What Does the Ruling Class Do compatible with capitalism (i.e., they contribute to When It Rules? London: New Left Books.

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Wright, Erik Olin. 2010. Envisioning Real Utopias. Lon- sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since don and New York: Verso. 1976 where he is Vilas Distinguished Professor. His Wright, Erik Olin and Joel Rogers. 2011. American Soci- academic work has been centrally concerned with recon- ety: How It Really Works. New York: W.W. Norton. structing the Marxist tradition of social theory and research in ways that attempt to make it more relevant to contemporary concerns and more cogent as a scientific Erik Olin Wright was born in Berkeley in 1947, grew up framework of analysis. His empirical research has in Kansas, and was educated at Harvard, Oxford, and the focused especially on class in developed capitalist societ- University of California-Berkeley. He has taught ies and real utopias throughout the world.

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