I transforming capitalism: perspectives on utopia Transforming capitalism through real utopias1

This paper explores a broad framework for thinking sociologically about emancipatory alternatives 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) Transforming existing institutions and social structures in the right way has the potential to substan tially reduce human suffering and expand the possibilities for human flourishing. An emancipa tory social science responding to these propositions faces four broad tasks: specifying the moral principles for judging social institutions; using these moral principles as the standards for diagnosis and critique of existing institutions; developing an account of viable alternatives in response to the critique; and proposing a theory of transformation for realizing those alterna tives. The idea of “real utopias” is one way of thinking about alternatives and transformation. “There is no alternative,” Margaret Thatcher, early 1980s “Another world is possible”, motto of the World Social Forum, 2000s In this paper I explore a broad framework for thinking sociologically about emancipatory alternatives to dominant institutions and social structures. My focus is mainly on the problem of alternatives to capitalism, but much of what I have to say would apply to other dominant institutions in the world in which we live as well. My hope is to contribute to a normatively grounded sociology of the possible, not just the actual. Developing a theory of alternatives to capitalism at the beginning of the 21st century is a pressing task, for to most people capitalism now seems the natural order of things. This was not always the case. Throughout the 20th century many people on both the left and the right saw “socialism” as an alternative, either as a promise of emancipation or as a threat of oppression. This is no longer Published by Irish Journal of Sociology ISSN 0791 6035, EISSN 2050 5280, Vol. 21.2, 2013, pp. 6–40 © American Sociological Association http://dx.doi. org/10.7227/IJS.21.2.2 Transforming capitalism through real utopias 7 the case. Even for most critics on the left, socialism as a future to capitalism no longer has much credibility. This does not mean people have universally come to view capitalism as a benign social order within which humanity will flourish. Indeed we live in a period in which many of the traditional socialist criticisms of capitalism seem more appropriate than ever: economic instability and crisis pervasively harm the lives of masses of people; inequality, economic polarization and job insecurity in many economically developed countries has been deepening; capital has become increasingly footloose, moving across the globe and severely undermining the democratic capacity of states and communities; giant corporations dominate the media and cultural production; the market appears like a law of nature uncontrollable by human device; politics are ever-more dominated by money and unresponsive to the concerns and worries of ordinary people. The need for a vibrant alternative to capitalism is as great as ever. Yet the particular institutional arrangements that have come to be associated with alternatives – socialism rooted in the state control of the economy – are seen as incapable of delivering on their promises. Instead of being viewed as a threat to capitalism, talk of socialism now seems more like archaic utopian dreaming, or perhaps even worse: a distraction from the dealing with tractable problems in the real world. In what follows I propose a power-centered framework for addressing these issues anchored in the idea of “real utopias”. At its core, this proposal revolves around transforming power relations within the economy in ways that deepen and broaden the possibility of meaningful democracy. I will begin by briefly discussing two foundational propositions shared by all varieties of critical and emancipatory social science. The idea of real utopias is one response to the intellectual challenge posed by these propositions.