Many people hate capitalism, considering it to be variously evil, destructive and the cause of innumerable social and environmental ills.
If we want to replace capitalism, what should we replace it with? Some anti-capitalists avoid making plans for a non-capitalist economy because it should be up to the people of the future to decide how they want to organize their society. However, will people support the overthrow of capitalism if they do not believe there is a better alternative available? There have been various suggestions over the last few hundred years, and we will consider some of the major types of proposal.
The first task will be to consider how economic systems can be judged and classified. For instance, to what extent are they bottom-up (from the ordinary people) or top-down (run by the oligarchs or experts)? It is also a good idea to be clear about what capitalism is, how it works and what its pros and cons are. Capitalism can be compared to historic systems such as feudalism, a less dynamic and more top-down system based on traditional social roles.
We then look at various socialist proposals from the top-down centrally planned system to the bottom-up anarchist proposal. We will also consider proposals that combine elements of both, such as social democracy, market socialism, participatory economics and eco-socialism.
Each theory will be considered in a critical manner, evaluating how the proponents of rival systems would respond. Can any of the proposals match the economic efficiency of capitalism?
This short course considers prominent alternatives to capitalism by classic and recent authors, and how these different systems would function in practice.