# Michael Albert

Part of a series on :
Libertarian socialism :
Political concepts
Anti-authoritarianism
Class conflict
Decentralization
Egalitarian community
Free association
Mutual aid
Revolutionary spontaneity
Workers' control :
Economics
Anti-capitalism
Co-operative economics
Decentralized planning
Economic democracy
Industrial democracy
Participatory economics
Socialization
Socialist economics
Worker cooperative
Workers' self-management :
People
Albert
Andrews
Bakunin
Berkman
Bookchin
Camus
Castoriadis
Chomsky
Cole
Déjacque
Foot
Fotopoulos
Fourier
Guérin
Kropotkin
Lefort
Makhno
Marcos
Margall
Morris
Marcuse
Negri
Öcalan
Pallis
Pankhurst
Pannekoek
Proudhon
Rocker
Russell
Rühle :
Philosophies and tendencies
Anarchist tendencies
Social anarchism
Communist
Collectivist
Individualist anarchism
Market
Mutualism
Anarcho-syndicalism
Marxist tendencies
Autonomism
Chaulieu–Montal tendency
Communization
Council communism
Situationism
Western Marxism
Other tendencies
Democratic confederalism
Guild socialism
Libertarian municipalism
Utopian socialism
Neozapatismo :
History
International Workingmen's Association
Revolutions of 1917–1923
Makhnovshchina
Korean People's Association in Manchuria
Spanish Revolution of 1936
New Left
New social movements
Zapatista uprising
MAREZ
Rojava Revolution
AANES :
Related topics
Communism
Libertarianism
Social democracy
Socialism
Democratic socialism
Eco-socialism
Syndicalism :
Anarchism portal
Libertarianism portal
Socialism portal
Politics portal :
vte :
Michael Albert (born April 8, 1947) is an American economist, speaker, writer, and political critic. Since the late 1970s, he has published on a variety of subjects. He has set up his own media outfits, magazines, and podcasts. He is known for helping to develop the socioeconomic theory of participatory economics.

## Biography

Albert was born in New York City and grew up in New Rochelle, New York. In 1965, Albert was studying physics at MIT. He objected to the US military's funding of the university. This, along with the civil rights movement, led Albert to become politically active.$^{:39}$ He became a member of Students for a Democratic Society and opposed the Vietnam War. He was expelled from MIT, in January 1970, for disruptive behaviour, although he claimed the charges were 'cooked-up'.
Albert founded South End Press in 1977 along with Lydia Sargent and Juliet Schor, among others.
In 1987, Albert founded Zeta Magazine with Sargent. The magazine focused on libertarian and anarchist socialist thought. It was renamed Z Magazine in 1989.
In 1990–91, Albert and Robin Hahnel worked on outlining their ideas around participatory economics. They published Looking Forward and The Political Economy of Participatory Economics, with the latter including an economic model of the system. Doug Brown, writing in the Journal of Economic Issues said their alternative to markets was novel, but mainly of academic interest.
By 1995, the organisation Z Magazine had branched out providing online content and media training. Along with the magazine the ventures are collectively known as Z Communications.
In 2003, Parecon: Life After Capitalism was published further outlining participatory economics in a more accessible, less academic format. The book was translated into 20 languages. Reviewing the book Paul Ormerod felt Albert's criticisms of capitalism were unfounded. Albert spoke at the World Social Forum in the same year. He spoke at European Social Forum in 2004.
Albert was a founding member of the International Organization for a Participatory Society, in 2012.
Sean Michael Wilson created a comic book based on Albert and his ideas in 2013.

## Beliefs

Albert identifies himself as a market abolitionist and believes markets should be replaced with participatory economics.$^{:222}$$^{:284}$

## Criticism

In 2006, David Schweickart wrote a detailed critique of participatory economics called Nonsense on Stilts: Michael Albert's Parecon. He claimed three fundamental features of the economic system are flawed.