ASRXXX10.1177/000312241246 4688828882American Sociological ReviewWright 2012

2011 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 a way of thinking about alternatives and transformation that responds to these propositions.

“There is no alternative” – Margaret is to contribute to a normatively grounded Thatcher, early 1980s sociology of the possible, not just the actual. Developing a theory of alternatives to cap- “Another world is possible” – motto of the italism at the beginning of the twenty-first World Social Forum, 2000s century is a pressing task: for most people, capitalism now seems the natural order of In this address I explore a broad frame- work for thinking sociologically about eman- aUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison cipatory alternatives to dominant institutions and social structures. My focus is mainly on Corresponding Author: the problem of alternatives to capitalism, but Erik Olin Wright, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 much of what I have to say would apply to Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706 other dominant institutions as well. My hope E-mail: [email protected] 2 American Sociological Review XX(X) things. This was not always the case. Through- Foundations out the twentieth century, many people on both the left and the right saw socialism as an All varieties of social science that have critical alternative, either as a promise of emancipa- and emancipatory aspirations, whether they tion or as a threat of oppression. Today, how- are anchored in values and beliefs of the left or ever, even for most critics on the left, the right, share two foundational positions: socialism as a future to capitalism no longer has much credibility. This does not mean peo- Foundational Proposition of Critical Social ple have universally come to view capitalism Science: Many forms of human suffering as a benign social order within which human- and many deficits in human flourishing are ity will flourish. Indeed, we live in a period in the result of existing institutions and social which many of the traditional socialist criti- structures. cisms of capitalism seem more appropriate than ever: economic instability and crisis Foundational Proposition of Emancipatory harm the lives of masses of people; inequal- Social Science: Transforming existing insti- ity, economic polarization, and job insecurity tutions and social structures in the right way in many economically developed countries has the potential to substantially reduce have been deepening; capital has become human suffering and expand the possibili- increasingly footloose, moving across the ties for human flourishing. globe and severely undermining states’ and communities’ democratic capacity; giant cor- The first proposition affirms the very general porations dominate the media and cultural idea that significant aspects of human suffering production; the market appears like a law of and deficits in human flourishing are not simply nature uncontrollable by human device; and the result of human nature, acts of God, or vari- politics are ever more dominated by money ations in people’s attributes, but are the result of and unresponsive to the concerns and worries social causes. Stated in this abstract way, this of ordinary people. The need for a vibrant proposition is accepted by nearly all sociolo- alternative to capitalism is as great as ever. gists, whether or not they explicitly identify Yet the particular institutional arrangements with any of the traditions of critical sociology, that have come to be associated with alterna- and is thus not controversial. The proposition tives—socialism rooted in state control of the becomes very controversial, of course, when economy—are seen as incapable of deliver- concrete claims are made about the specific ing on their promises. Instead of being viewed mechanisms that generate these harms. Writers as a threat to capitalism, talk of socialism now have proposed many social sources of harms: seems more like archaic utopian dreaming, or the core structures of the capitalist economy; perhaps even worse: a distraction from deal- unintended effects of the welfare state; enduring ing with 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 structures; and particular kinds of technology. A issues anchored in the idea of “real utopias.” great deal of sociological research attempts to At its core, this proposal revolves around identify these sources of harm and adjudicate transforming power relations within the econ- among rival arguments. omy in ways that deepen and broaden the The second proposition should not be con- possibility of meaningful democracy. I will sidered a simple corollary of the first. It could begin by briefly discussing two foundational be the case that various causal processes con- propositions shared by all varieties of critical nected to capitalism explain much human suf- and emancipatory social science. The idea of fering, and yet any deliberate attempt at real utopias is one response to the intellectual transforming the fundamental structures of challenge posed by these propositions. capitalism would only make things worse. The Wright 3 cure could be worse than the disease due to implies developing visions of alternatives to unintended and uncontrollable effects of dominant institutions that embody our deepest attempts at deliberate social transformation. aspirations for a world in which all people This is essentially Hayek’s (1988) argument in have access to the conditions to live flourish- his attack on radical reformers. Following a ing lives; real means proposing alternatives long tradition of classical conservative attentive to problems of unintended conse- thought, Hayek makes two central claims quences, self-destructive dynamics, and diffi- (although not stated in precisely these terms): cult dilemmas of normative trade-offs.2 A real first, the negative unintended consequences of utopian holds on to emancipatory ideals with- deliberate social change are generally greater out embarrassment or cynicism but remains than the positive unintended consequences; fully cognizant of the deep complexities and second, the larger the attempted social trans- contradictions of realizing those ideals. formation, the bigger the negative unintended The exploration of real utopias is an inte- consequences are likely to be.1 Taken together, gral part of a broad agenda of an emancipatory these arguments suggest that even if one social science that includes four basic tasks: accepts the first proposition, in general the second proposition should be rejected. The 1. Specifying the moral principles for judging emancipatory proposition constitutes the social institutions. “fatal conceit” of intellectuals, in Hayek’s 2. Using these moral principles as the standards for (1988:27) words, that “man is able to shape diagnosis and critique of existing institutions. the world around him according to his wishes.” 3. Developing an account of viable alternatives in While I disagree with Hayek’s pessimism response to the critique. and embrace the foundational proposition of 4. Proposing a theory of transformation for real- emancipatory social science, I do not think izing those alternatives. such arguments can be dismissed out of hand. The folk aphorism “the road to hell is paved I like to think of these tasks using the meta- with good intentions,” has too many historical phor of a journey: the first two tasks tell us examples to be ignored, many of them ani- what is wrong with the world in which we live mated by emancipatory aspirations. The idea and why we want to leave it; the third tells us of real utopias is a way of thinking about something about the destination we seek; and alternatives and transformations that responds the fourth helps us understand how to get from to these concerns. here to there. The rest of this address will look The expression “real utopia” is meant to be at each element in this journey. 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 journeys. 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. having to provide serious arguments, they call it utopian. Realists reject such fantasies as a Equality distraction from the serious business of mak- ing practical improvements in existing institu- Moral issues connected to the idea of equality tions. The idea of real utopias embraces this have always been at the heart of a central tension between dreams and practice: utopia preoccupation of sociology: understanding 4 American Sociological Review XX(X) the causes and consequences of diverse forms equal access to the conditions necessary for of inequality, especially involving class, gen- human flourishing. Finally, equal opportunity is der, and race. I define the equality principle as consistent with a very punitive view toward 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 formula- and disrupted at different stages of life, and a tion. First, the ultimate good affirmed in the completely unrealistic sociological and psycho- principle 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 view of the human condition then simple equal is 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 cally shaped by social conditions. It refers to justice 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 neces- potentials as human beings. The concept does sary for a flourishing life” in this formulation not privilege one kind of capacity over is complex. In the case of material conditions another. These capacities are intellectual, it is pretty clear what we are talking about— physical, artistic, spiritual, social, and moral. mostly economic resources used to satisfy A flourishing human life is one in which these needs, and also things like personal physical talents and capacities develop.3 security. Social conditions is a much more Second, the egalitarian ideal in the principle heterogeneous idea. It includes such things as is captured by the idea of equal access, not social respect, community, solidarity, and equal opportunity. Equal opportunity is the trust. In a just world, all people would have characteristic way Americans think about fair- broadly equal access to such social condi- ness. I also believe equal opportunity is a good tions. This means that issues of social stigma thing—a world characterized by equal opportu- and social exclusion are also issues of social nity is a better world than one with unequal justice along with more conventional con- opportunity—but I do not think it fully captures cerns of access to material resources.5 Social the moral intuition the drives the idea of equal- exclusions based on race, gender, sexual ori- ity. Equal opportunity has a number of limita- entation, ethnicity, physical disability, or any- tions. It is satisfied by a world in which there is thing else have equal moral standing with a perfect lottery at birth in which 10 percent of class as bases of critique of existing social babies get to live a flourishing life and 90 per- institutions and social structures.6 cent live a life of deprivation. That is a version Finally, the principle of equality as stated of equal opportunity, but hardly what anyone above refers to all persons. This means that in would consider just. The idea of equal opportu- a fully just world, all persons regardless of nity also pays no attention to how unequal the race, class, gender, sexual orientation, physical outcomes are—equal opportunity to thrive or disability, ethnicity, religion, nationality, citi- starve is still equal opportunity, but it is not zenship status, or geographic location would Wright 5 have broadly equal access to the material and the context in which choices and decisions are social conditions necessary to live a flourish- made. ing life. This is a very strong criterion. We live Of course, virtually everything of impor- in an unjust world where some people are born tance we do has some kind of unchosen side in poor communities or countries, others in effect on others; in practice there is no natural rich communities or countries, and as a result boundary between the private and the public. people have unequal access to the material How we draw the boundary depends on pre- conditions to live flourishing lives. It may well cisely what kinds of unchosen effects on oth- be that for all sorts of reasons it is difficult—or ers we decide should be allowed. This is even impossible—to fully remedy this global fundamentally a political decision and gener- injustice. But a damaging inequality does not ally reflects the relative power of different become socially just simply because of the dif- kinds of social interests. In a fully democratic ficulty 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 and world today. Sustainability is a justice princi- “freedom” to describe situations of purely indi- ple for people in the future.8 vidual choice, but they share the same underly- The problem of sustainability as intertem- ing value of self-determination. What differs is poral justice raises a number of very difficult 6 American Sociological Review XX(X) 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, 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 world, and perhaps even in the world as a of counteracting the effects of capitalist pro- whole. But capitalism also inherently gener- cesses; as a result, their economic systems ates high levels of inequality in access to those have become less purely capitalist. Wright 7

Democracy can say all of these things; but what one can- not legitimately say is that capitalism does Capitalism generates severe deficits in real- not violate the fundamental value of democ- izing democratic values for three reasons: racy by giving publicly relevant decisions to by excluding crucial decisions from public private persons. deliberation, by allowing private wealth to The second way capitalism contradicts the affect access to political power, and by allow- full realization of democracy is that it allows ing workplace dictatorships. private wealth to affect access to political The first of these is intrinsic to the very power. This is true everywhere; no capitalist concept of private property in the means of democracy is able to insulate political decision- production. The word “private” in private making from the exercise of power connected property means that owners have the right to to capitalist wealth. In the United States this exclude others from decisions about the use of assault on democracy intensified after the that property. In practice, of course, there are Supreme Court’s recent decision on the use of always some restrictions on the use of private corporate funds in political campaigns. But property, specifically on uses that generate this problem is not peculiar to the institutional significant negative externalities (e.g., pollu- design of the political game in the United tion). But in a capitalist economy the critical States; it is inherent in capitalism’s inequali- power to allocate capital is held almost entirely ties of wealth and the structural power of by private owners.10 The owner of a large fac- capital.11 tory has the right to close the factory and move The third way capitalism violates democ- it to another location in order to increase prof- racy is by allowing workplace dictatorships. its. This can have devastating effects not only When workers agree to work for a capitalist on the lives of people who lose their jobs, but employer they also agree to subject them- on the lives of others in the community whose selves to the authority of others and to do what homes lose value or whose livelihoods are they are told. If they do not like what they are linked to the factory in other ways. In a capital- told to do, they can quit, but because they still ist economy it is completely legitimate to must seek employment elsewhere, this is an make such decisions simply on the criterion illusory autonomy. So long as workers are not that it is beneficial to the people who own the in a position to freely choose between demo- factory. The people whose lives are negatively cratically organized workplaces and authori- affected by that decision have no right whatso- tarian firms, the employment relation cannot ever to be co-participants in the decision. This really be considered “capitalism between con- is a violation of the principle of democracy. senting adults.” Again, one might defend these Capitalism’s defenders could respond that arrangements on the grounds of efficiency or allowing owners of capital to move their some other value, but this does not change the capital without worrying about effects on fact that authoritarian workplaces violate the nonowners is necessary for the dynamism of democratic principle that people should be co- capitalism, for efficiency and economic participants in collective decisions that sig- growth. They could even say the individual nificantly affect their lives.12 freedom that private property entails is more important than democracy. Democracy, after Sustainability all, is not the only thing we care about; nor- mative trade-offs are inevitable in complex Capitalism inherently threatens the quality of social systems. On such grounds one might the environment for future generations conclude that the right to destroy home values because of imperatives for consumerism and and community members’ livelihoods is justi- endless growth in material production. The fied by the importance of the values con- world is finite; endless growth in material nected to private property even though, consumption is simply not compatible with regrettably, it violates democratic values. One long-term sustainability of the environment. 8 American Sociological Review XX(X)

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 how to think about alternatives, both for spe- of social possibility are not quite like that cific institutions and for macro-structures of because beliefs about the limits of social pos- society. Alternatives can be evaluated in terms sibility are one of the things that affect what of their desirability, their viability, and their in fact becomes possible. Evidence for the achievability. If you worry about desirability viability of alternatives has the potential to and ignore viability or achievability, then you shape such beliefs. are just a plain utopian. Exploration of real Two other preliminary comments on the utopias requires understanding these other idea of alternatives are needed to set the stage two dimensions. The viability problem asks: for the exploration of real utopias. If we could create this alternative, would we First, how one thinks about alternatives 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. At this particular moment in history, I There is some degree of freedom and varia- think it is especially important to focus on the bility in how the parts function, but basically Wright 9 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 of ongoing racism, not merely the legacies of priorities, propose specific kinds of budgetary racism in the past. But affirmative action is projects, and then choose delegates to a 10 American Sociological Review XX(X) citywide budget council who would bring all allocated according to various principles. An of the proposals from the different neighbor- interesting example is the Quebec Solidarity hood assemblies together and reconcile them Fund developed by the labor movement in the into a coherent city budget. This basic model 1980s. The purpose of these funds is to use has spread to many other cities in Latin Amer- investments deliberately to protect and create ica and elsewhere, most recently to some city jobs rather than simply to maximize returns council districts in Chicago and New York. for retirement. One way the Solidarity Fund The result is a budget that much more closely accomplishes this is by directly investing in reflects the democratic ideal of citizens’ equal small and medium enterprises, either through access to participate meaningfully in the exer- private equity investment or loans. These cise of power. investments are generally directed at firms strongly rooted in the region and satisfy vari- Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an example of ous criteria in a social audit. The Solidarity something no one would have thought possi- Fund is also involved in these firms’ gover- ble until it happened. Several hundred nance, often by having representation on the thousand people around the world actively board of directors. Investments are typically cooperate without pay to write and edit the made in firms with a significant union pres- world’s largest encyclopedia (more than 4 ence, because this helps solve information million English language entries in 2012, and problems about a firm’s economic viability some version of Wikipedia in more than 100 and facilitates monitoring firm compliance languages), which is made available without with the side conditions of investment. Soli- charge to anyone in the world who has access darity finance thus goes beyond ordinary to the Internet.15 The quality is uneven in socially screened investments in being much places but overall quite high. Wikipedia is the more actively and directly engaged in the best known example of a more general model project of allocating capital on the basis of of nonhierarchical cooperative economic social priorities. activity: peer-to-peer distributed production with open source property rights.16 Worker-owned cooperatives. Perhaps the oldest vision for an emancipatory alterna- Public libraries. “To each according to tive to capitalism is the worker-owned firm. need” is part of a familiar distributional prin- Capitalism began by dispossessing workers of ciple associated with Karl Marx. You go into their means of production and then employing a library and check out the books you need. them as wage-laborers in capitalist firms. The You go to a bookstore, go to the shelf, find the most straightforward undoing of that dispos- book you need, open it up, see that it is too session is its reversal through worker-owned expensive and put it back. Public libraries are firms. In most times and places, however, fundamentally anti-capitalist institutions that worker cooperatives are quite marginal within allocate resources on the basis of need and market economies, occupying small niches ration them by waiting lists. Some libraries rather than the core of an economic system. lend much more than books: music, videos, One striking exception is the Mondragon art work, even tools. They often provide Cooperative Corporation in the Basque region public space for meetings. They increase of Spain, a conglomerate of more than 100 equality in access to the material conditions separate worker cooperatives that produce a necessary to live a flourishing life. wide range of goods and services, including high-end refrigerators, auto parts, bicycles, Solidarity finance. Unions and other industrial robots, and much more. Coopera- organizations in civil society often manage tives in the conglomerate have weathered the pension funds for their members. In effect this severe Spanish economic crisis much better is collectively controlled capital that can be than conventional capitalist firms. Wright 11

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 initiatives for developing urban democracy would not be feasible.18 agriculture. Some of these have the familiar character of community gardens with individ- Unconditional basic income. Uncon- ual plots, but in some cities there are serious ditional basic income (UBI) is a proposal to efforts to develop community-based urban give every legal resident of a territory an farms capable of providing work for people income sufficient to live above the poverty and offering partial solutions to problems of line without any work requirement or other the “food desert” in decayed central cities. A conditions. Nearly all existing public pro- critical issue in such efforts is the nature of grams of income support would be eliminated. property rights involved in urban agriculture Minimum wage laws would also be elimi- and how such development can be sustained in nated because there would no longer be any a way that is accountable to communities. The reason to prohibit low-wage voluntary con- proposal for community land-trusts for urban tracts once a person’s basic needs are not agriculture is one approach to this problem. contingent on that wage. UBI opens up a wide array of new possibilities for people. It guar- Internet-based reciprocity economy antees that any young person can do an unpaid in music. In a stylized way, musicians’ lives internship, not just those who have affluent are polarized between starving artists and parents who are prepared to subsidize them. celebrities. The Internet opens up a potential Worker cooperatives would become much space for musicians to earn a middle-class more viable because worker-owners’ basic standard of living in between these extremes. needs would not depend on the income gener- The idea is that musicians create websites that ated by the enterprise. This also means worker offer free downloads of their music, and then cooperatives would be better credit risks to ask people to pay whatever they want. banks, making it easier for cooperatives to get Through this mechanism, musicians establish loans. If it could be instituted at a relatively a direct relation to fans based on norms of generous level, UBI would move us 12 American Sociological Review XX(X) decisively toward the egalitarian principle of a deliberately stripped-down concept of giving everyone equal access to the condi- power: power is the capacity to do things in tions to live a flourishing life. 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 ism’s dominance within an economy. But can distinguish three kinds of power deployed taken collectively and scaled up, they poten- within economic systems: economic power, tially constitute elements of a more compre- rooted in control over the use of economic hensive alternative. In the next section I will resources; state power, rooted in control over elaborate a general framework that embeds rule making and rule enforcing over territory; these kinds of partial and limited transforma- and what I term social power, rooted in the tions in a system alternative. capacity to mobilize people for cooperative, voluntary collective actions. Expressed as a mnemonic slogan, you can get people to do A General Framework things by bribing them, forcing them, or per- for the Analysis of Real suading them. Every economic system Utopian Alternatives to involves all three forms of power, connected Capitalism in different ways. Three ideal types of economic structures— Both social democracy and socialism contain capitalism, statism, and socialism—can be the word “social,” but generally this term is differentiated in terms of the dominant form invoked in a loose and ill-defined way. The of power controlling economic activity:19 suggestion is of a political program committed to the broad welfare of society rather than to Capitalism is an economic structure within the narrow interests of particular elites. which economic activity is controlled Sometimes, especially in more radical versions through the exercise of economic power. of socialist discourse, “social ownership” of the means of production is invoked as a con- Statism is an economic structure within trast to “private ownership,” but in practice this which economic activity is controlled is generally collapsed into state ownership, and through the exercise of state power. State the term social itself ends up doing relatively officials control the investment process and little analytical work in the elaboration of the production through some sort of state- political program. I will argue that the social in administrative mechanism. social democracy and socialism can be used to identify a cluster of principles and visions of Socialism is an economic structure within change that differentiate socialism and social which economic activity is controlled democracy from both the capitalist project of through the exercise of social power. This is economic organization and what could be equivalent to saying that the economy is called a purely statist response to capitalism. democratic. At the center of the analysis is a power- centered framework for understanding capi- These three forms of economic structure can talism and its alternatives. Power is an never exist in the world in pure form but are especially elusive and contested concept in always combined in various complex ways. social theory, often formulated in opaque They are hybrids that vary according to how ways that make it very difficult to use in con- these different forms of power interact. To call crete discussions of institutions and their an economy capitalist is thus shorthand for transformation. In the present context, I adopt a more cumbersome expression such as “an Wright 13

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 Economic form of social power (political parties) Power Power is subordinated to economic power

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

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

Figure 1. Visual Representation of Power Configurations economic hybrid combining capitalist, statist, A Visual Vocabulary and socialist economic relations within which capitalist relations are dominant.” The idea of To explore the problem of deepening the a structural hybrid can be used to analyze any socialist component within hybrid economic unit of analysis—firms, sectors, regional econ- systems, it will be useful to visually depict omies, national economies, even the global different patterns of interconnection among economy. The possibility of socialism thus the three forms of power within economic depends on our ability to enlarge and deepen systems. Figure 1 illustrates the visual vocab- the socialist component of the hybrid and ulary I use for this purpose. weaken the capitalist and statist 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 14 American Sociological Review XX(X)

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 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 differentiate salient configurations of social empowerment. Different kinds of progressive policies, institutional innovations Economic and proposals, strategies, and reforms can be Power located within these various configurations. Seven such configurations are particularly important: (1) statist socialism; (2) social democratic statist regulation; (3) associa- Social Economic tional democracy; (4) social capitalism; (5) Power Activity the core social economy; (6) the cooperative market economy; and (7) participatory social- ism. I will discuss each of these briefly. State Power 1. Statist Socialism Figure 4. A Configuration of Statist The configuration in Figure 3 corresponds Empowerment: Authoritarian Statism to 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 Democratic Statist consolidated in the form of the one-party state, Regulation “actually existing socialism” became a form of authoritarian statism in which, as illustrated in In the second configuration (Figure 5), Figure 4, both social power within civil society social 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 16 American Sociological Review XX(X)

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 Associational democracy (Figure 7) covers to which the state’s power is a genuine expres- a wide range of institutional devices through sion of democratic empowerment of civil soci- which collective associations in civil society ety. In actual capitalist societies, much statist directly participate in various kinds of gover- economic regulation is in fact itself subordi- nance activities, usually along with state agen- nated to economic power, as illustrated in cies. The most familiar form of this is probably Figure 6. In capitalist statist regulation, state the tripartite neo-corporatist arrangements in power regulates capital but in ways that are some social democratic societies in which systematically responsive to the power of cap- organized labor, employers’ associations, and ital itself. In the United States, for example, the state bargain over various kinds of eco- industry associations are heavily involved in nomic regulations, especially concerning the shaping federal regulation of airlines, energy, labor market and employment relations. agriculture, and other sectors. Perhaps even Associational democracy can extend to many more pervasively, the state’s structural depend- other domains, such as watershed councils ency on the capitalist economy underwrites that bring together civic associations, environ- this configuration of power relations.21 mental groups, developers, and state agencies to regulate ecosystems, or health councils 3. Social Democracy II: Associational Democracy in which medical associations, community Wright 17

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 organizations, and public health officials plan 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 Economy 4. Social Economy I: Social Capitalism The core social economy goes beyond I use the term “social economy” to desig- social capitalism by constituting an alterna- nate all configurations of social empower- tive way of directly organizing economic ment within an economy in which the state is activity that is distinct from capitalist market not directly involved.22 The first social econ- production, state organized production, and omy configuration is “social capitalism.” This household production (Figure 10). Its hall- is not a standard expression. I use it to mark is production organized by collectivities describe a power configuration in which sec- directly to satisfy human needs, not subject to ondary associations of civil society, through a the discipline of profit-maximization or state- variety of mechanisms, directly affect the technocratic rationality. The state may be way economic power is used (Figure 8). The involved in funding these collectivities, but it Solidarity Funds in Quebec are a good exam- does not directly organize them or their ser- ple. Stakeholder boards of directors of corpo- vices. Quebec’s system of daycare provision rations, in which all stakeholders in a is a good example. In 2008, parents paid only corporation’s activities are represented, are seven Canadian dollars per day for preschool- also a 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 not mean that it constitutes a form of social ensured that providers were paid a living empowerment. In Figure 9, social power wage. These daycare centers were often affects the exercise of economic power but it organized as “solidarity cooperatives,” an does so in a way that is itself subordinated to organizational form governed by elected 18 American Sociological Review XX(X)

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 representatives of staff, consumers (parents in cooperative enterprises are governed by dem- this case), and community members. ocratic bodies representing all categories of Wikipedia is another striking example of the people whose lives are affected by the enter- core social economy. Wikipedia produces prises’ economic activity. The Mondragon knowledge and disseminates information out- Cooperative Corporation is an example. Such side of markets and without state support; firms remain a hybrid economic form, com- funding comes largely from donations from bining capitalist and socialist elements, but participants and supporters. the socialist component has considerable weight. 6. Social Economy III: Cooperative Market Economy 7. Participatory Socialism

In a fully worker-owned cooperative firm The final configuration of social empower- in a capitalist economy, the egalitarian prin- ment combines the social economy and statist ciple of one-person one-vote means that socialism: the state and civil society jointly power relations within the firm are based on organize and control various kinds of produc- voluntary cooperation and persuasion, not the tion of goods and services (Figure 12). In relative economic power of different people. participatory socialism, the state’s role is more Through democratic means, all workers, or pervasive than in the pure social economy. members, jointly control the economic power The state does not simply provide funding and represented by the capital in the firm. And if set the parameters; it is also, in various ways, individual cooperative firms join together in directly involved in the organization and pro- larger associations of cooperatives—perhaps duction of economic activity. On the other even a cooperative-of-cooperatives, collec- hand, participatory socialism is also different tively providing finance, training, and other from statist socialism, for here social power kinds of support—they begin to transcend the plays a role not simply through the ordinary capitalist character of their economic envi- channels of democratic control of state poli- ronment by constituting a cooperative market cies, but directly inside the productive activi- economy (Figure 11). The overarching coop- ties themselves. A good example is the erative in such a market stretches the social participatory budget in urban government. character of ownership within individual Because these budgets constitute allocations cooperative enterprises and moves gover- of resources to produce infrastructure to meet nance toward a stakeholder model, in which human needs, they should be treated as an Wright 19

Economic Economic Power Power

Social Economic Power Activity Social Economic Power Activity

State Power State Power Figure 12. Participatory Socialism

Socialist configurations aspect of economic activity; participatory Social democracy configurations budgets are thus not simply a form of demo- Social economy configurations cratic participation in the state, but are part of a participatory socialist economy. Figure 13. Combined Configurations of Social Empowerment The Seven Configurations Together As summarized in Figure 13, these different Transformation configurations of social empowerment can be clustered into three broad groups, each corre- Transforming capitalism in a socialist direc- sponding to different political traditions of tion means democratizing the economy socioeconomic transformation: a socialist through the seven configurations summarized cluster, a social economy cluster, and a social in Figure 13. In this process, the economic democratic cluster. These different clusters structure remains a hybrid combining capital- vary in the role they accord to the state and the ist, statist, and socialist practices and rela- extent to which they attempt to subordinate tions, but the socialist dimension gains weight rather than bypass capitalist economic power. and centrality. Extending and deepening What all of the configurations have in com- social power in any one of these configura- mon is the idea of democratization of power tions may be quite compatible with maintain- over economic life by subordinating economic ing the dominance of capitalism, but if it is and state power to social power—power possible to increase social power within all of rooted in voluntary cooperation for collective these configurations, the cumulative effect action. Of course, the ideal of socialism could be a qualitative transformation in which involves much more than this. Equality and socialism becomes the dominant form of rela- social justice are also core traditional socialist tions within a complex economic hybrid, values, to which environmental sustainability subordinating both capitalism and statism should be added today. What this model of within democratized power relations. socialism stresses, however, is that realization This, of course, is a very big if. Skepticism of all these values depends on the transforma- toward socialism at the beginning of the tion of power relations over economic activity, twenty-first century is at least as much about both in terms of how social power is directly the prospects of challenging the dominance of involved in shaping economic activity and capitalist relations as it is about the viability how it indirectly shapes economic activity of alternative institutions. The power of capi- through the democratization of the state. tal seems so massive that if ever social power 20 American Sociological Review XX(X) 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 often believe that results in a radical disjuncture in which exist- decisively breaking the power of capital is a ing institutions are destroyed and new ones precondition for significant movement toward are built fairly rapidly. In most versions, this socialism rather than mainly a consequence revolutionary scenario involves seizing state 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 political allies to block transformation threat to dominant classes and elites. Prod- becomes progressively weaker. Eventually houn’s vision of building a cooperative alter- capitalism simply becomes unsustainable. native to capitalism within capitalism itself is This was a strong prediction, not simply a a nineteenth-century version of this perspec- weak claim about future possibilities.23 This tive. The many experiments in the social does not solve the problem of how to build an economy today are also examples. The cen- emancipatory alternative to capitalism, but at tral theoretical idea is that building alterna- least it makes the problem of overcoming the tives on the ground in whatever spaces are obstacles of existing power relations much possible serves a critical ideological function less daunting in the long run. by showing that alternative ways of working Relatively few people today—even those and living 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. Three strategic logics of transformation All three of these strategic logics have his- have characterized the history of anti-capitalist torically had a place within anti-capitalist social struggle. I refer to these as ruptural, intersti- movements and politics. Ruptural strategies are tial, and symbiotic strategies. most closely associated with revolutionary Wright 21 socialism and communism, interstitial strate- Building real utopias can both prefigure more gies with some strands of anarchism, and sym- comprehensive alternatives and move us in biotic strategies with social democracy. It is the direction of those 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 ine- component of market economies: credit mar- quality, and less insecurity, but they have done kets are skeptical of worker-owned firms; risk- so in ways that stabilize capitalism and leave averse workers are reluctant to sink their intact the core powers of capital. Historically, savings in a venture that has low probability of 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 schemes to increase their viability. Such poli- simple extrapolation of past experience into cies could, over time, expand the weight of a the future. Our theories of the future, how- cooperative market economy within the broader ever, are far too weak to really make confi- capitalist economic hybrid. dent claims that we know what cannot Such a combination of symbiotic and happen. The appropriate orientation toward interstitial strategies does not imply that the strategies of social transformation, therefore, process of transformation could ever follow a is to do things now that put us in the best posi- smooth path of enlightened cooperation tion to do more later, to work to create institu- between conflicting class forces. What is at tions and structures that increase, rather than stake here is a transformation of the core decrease, the prospects of taking advantage of power relations of capitalism, and this ulti- whatever historical opportunities emerge. mately threatens the interests of capitalists. 22 American Sociological Review XX(X)

Although elites may become resigned to a available, and then pushing against the state diminution of power, they are unlikely to and public policy to expand those spaces. For gracefully embrace the prospect. Symbiotic many people these kinds of interstitial initia- transformations help solve problems within tives also have the advantage of generating capitalism, but they often are not optimal for immediate, tangible results in which each elites and are thus resisted.25 This means that person’s contribution clearly matters. A vision a key element of ruptural strategies—con- of emancipatory alternatives anchored in the frontations between opposing organized multidimensional and multiscalar problem of social forces in which there are winners and deepening democracy can encompass this losers—will be a part of any plausible trajec- wide range of strategies and projects of trans- tory of sustainable social empowerment. The formation. Because democracy is such a core purpose of such confrontations, however, is value in most developed capitalist societies— not a systemic rupture with capitalist domi- both symbolically and substantively—a broad nance, but rather creation of more space for political project for a truly democratic society the interplay of interstitial and symbiotic may also capture the popular imagination. strategies. Notes 1. Hayek’s two propositions are rooted in a view about Conclusions the difficulty in generating a coherent social equilib- The framework proposed here for a socialism rium in which different kinds of social actors’ rooted in social empowerment involves a expectations and behaviors mesh in ways that allow for the necessary minimum level of social stability. commitment to institutional pluralism and Social systems, in Hayek’s view, can coherently tol- heterogeneity. Instead of a unitary institu- erate only slow, evolutionary processes of change tional design for transcending capitalism, the and dispersed adaption. In this view of the inherent configurations of social empowerment open fragility of social integration, the inevitable unin- up space for a wide diversity of institutional tended consequence of abrupt deliberate change is social disintegration; and in response to the resulting forms. Worker cooperatives and local social chaos, the inevitable consequence is state oppres- economy projects, state-run banks and enter- sion as the only way of maintaining social order prises, social democratic regulation of corpo- (thus “the road to serfdom” is the prediction of rations, solidarity finance, and participatory attempts at revolution). No presumption of bad faith budgeting all potentially undermine the dom- on the part of revolutionaries is needed here, only self-deception, wishful thinking, and arrogance. inance of capitalism and increase the weight 2. Unintended consequences refer to all side effects of of social power within the economic hybrid. a transformation that were not part of the motiva- The institutional pluralism of the destina- tions for the transformations. Some of these might tion suggests strategic pluralism in the prac- be positive, but many are negative. Self-destructive tices of transformation. Within some of these dynamics are a particular kind of negative unin- tended consequence: side effects that over time configurations, strengthening social power destroy the conditions of possibility for sustaining requires state power. But other configurations the transformation itself. Dilemmas of normative can be advanced without state involvement. trade-offs refer to the fact that the more values one This is especially true for the social economy cares about the more implausible it is that any given initiatives. Activists on the left, especially institutional arrangement can fully realize all of them. If our emancipatory ideals include an array of those on the radical left, often regard these complexly interconnected values—for example, kinds of locally oriented, community-based freedom, democracy, equality, sustainability, com- initiatives as not being very political, because munity, and individuality—then institutional they do not always involve direct confronta- transformations will inevitably confront tensions tion with political power. This is a narrow and contradictions across these values. A real uto- pian worries about this; a pure utopian does not. view of politics. Interstitial strategies to cre- 3. The idea of flourishing proposed here is closely ate real utopias involve showing that another related to the idea of “capabilities” developed by world is possible by building it in the spaces Sen (1999) and Nussbaum (2000). For a more Wright 23

extended discussion of flourishing, see Wright idea of a market economy. Capitalism is not simply (2010: chapter 2). an economy in which markets play a central role in 4. How much responsibility should be accorded indi- coordinating economic activity; it is a specific kind viduals for their choices is, of course, a profoundly of market economy, one in which workers do not difficult philosophical issue. There is always a ten- own and control the firms in which they work, capi- sion between sociological explanations of behavior, tal is privately owned and allocated to alternative which look to the causes behind the choices people purposes on the basis of private economic returns make, and assignment of moral responsibility to (or, equivalently, on the basis of private profit-mak- people for their choices. In general, egalitarian the- ing), and labor is allocated to economic activities ories of justice allow for inequalities to emerge that through labor markets. are the result of choices and effort, but not the result 10. There are obviously many complications to this of forces outside a person’s control for which they simple characterization. Use of taxes to build infra- have no responsibility. It turns out that drawing structure, for example, is a public allocation of unambiguous lines of demarcation between these capital. As I will argue later in this address, to the sources of inequality is probably impossible. extent that capital in the economy is allocated by 5. Fraser (1997, 2000) emphasizes the idea of social the state through taxes and other mechanisms, the recognition as an integral element in justice. For a economy becomes less fully capitalist. discussion of the interconnection of class and rec- 11. The “structural power” of capital refers to how ognition as moral issues, see Sayer (2005). capitalists’ interests powerfully constrain states’ 6. The key idea here is that all these forms of social actions because of the state’s dependency on the exclusion have equal moral standing. This is dis- vitality of capital accumulation. For now classic tinct from the question of the explanatory relevance discussions, see Block (1977), Lindbloom (1977), of any given form of exclusion for access to the and Przeworski (1985). conditions to live a flourishing life, either in the 12. For a good discussion of the problem of dictatorial lives of specific people or in the social institutions workplaces as a fundamental violation of demo- of a particular society. cratic principles, see Dahl (1985). 7. It is obviously a deeply controversial claim that 13. For a discussion of the possibility of prosperity principles of egalitarian social justice apply to citi- without growth, see Jackson (2009). zenship status and geographic location. Some 14. See Schor (1993) for a discussion of the consumer- philosophers have argued that principles of justice ist imperative in capitalism. fully apply only within states’ jurisdictions, for it is 15. Unequal access to the Internet remains a significant only states that can enforce the “rules of the game” problem, especially globally, which limits access to that govern distribution, opportunities, and rights. Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundations—the orga- States’ geographically limited jurisdictions may be nization that runs the infrastructure for a powerful fact about the world that limits our abil- Wikipedia—recognizes this problem and is devel- ity to move toward global social justice, but I do not oping new technologies to make Wikipedia think it defines the central meaning of the moral available free on flash drives to libraries and public imperative itself. schools in developing countries that lack Internet 8. Some environmentalists will be critical of this connections. anthropocentric view of sustainability. I care about 16. For an extended theoretical and empirical discus- global warming and other environmental issues sion of such innovative collaborative forms of mainly because of their consequences for human production, see Benkler (2006). flourishing. If we currently lived in an ice age and 17. See Belsky and colleagues (2010). global warming would make the planet more tem- 18. For a general discussion of randomized assemblies perate and benevolent for human beings, then it as a way of enhancing democracy, see Gastil and would be of much less concern. As a practical Richards (2012). matter in the world today, it probably does not 19. This is not meant to be a complete theoretical speci- matter whether one anchors the principle of sustain- fication of the differences between these three types ability in human flourishing for future generations of economic structures, but only their differentia- or some broader notion of the well-being of all tion in terms of power relations. For a fuller living creatures. Both perspectives demand strong discussion, see Wright (2010:11–123). efforts to reduce environmental damage. An anthro- 20. It is an important, but unresolved, empirical ques- pocentric perspective on the environment does not tion how stable different kinds of hybrids might be. license environmental destruction, because destruc- One traditional Marxian view is that any capitalist tion is harmful to future and current generations of hybrid with significant socialist elements would be people; it merely specifies why such destruction is a inherently unstable. The only stable equilibria are 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 24 American Sociological Review XX(X)

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. Wright 25

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.