The Emancipated Economy

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter discusses emancipatory alternatives to capitalism. It sketches three important theories of the non-exploitative economy: unconditional basic income (UBI), property-owning democracy (POD), and workplace democracy (WD). It argues that only POD and WD are eligible candidates for the abolition of exploitation. POD does better in attenuating horizontal exploitation, the exploitation of one economic unit by another, whereas WD does better in attenuating vertical exploitation, the exploitation of workers by bosses or owners. It is, therefore, possible that a hybrid theory could do better than each taken by itself. This hybrid theory, variously travelling under the names ‘liberal socialism’ and ‘democratic socialism,’ recommends worker control plus a strongly pre-distributive form of public ownership. The chapter concludes by outlining a pressing dilemma for advocates of socialized production, the socialization dilemma between statism and—what I will call—the labour epistocracy.