Post-capitalism is a hypothetical state in which the economic systems of the world can no longer be described as forms of capitalism. Various individuals and political ideologies have speculated on what would define such a world. According to classical Marxist and social evolutionary theories, post-capitalist societies may come about as a result of spontaneous evolution as capitalism becomes obsolete. Others propose models to intentionally replace capitalism, most notably socialism, communism, anarchism, nationalism and degrowth.
In 1993, Peter Drucker outlined a possible evolution of capitalistic society in his book Post-Capitalist Society.[1] The book states that knowledge, rather than capital, land, or labor, is the new basis of wealth. The classes of a fully post-capitalist society are expected to be divided into knowledge workers or service workers, in contrast to the capitalists and proletarians of a capitalist society. In the book, Drucker estimated the transformation to post-capitalism would be completed in 2010–2020. Drucker also argued for rethinking the concept of intellectual property by creating a universal licensing system.[2]
In 2015, according to Paul Mason, the rise of income inequality, repeating cycles of boom and bust, and capitalism's contributions to climate change led economists, political thinkers and philosophers to begin to seriously consider how a post-capitalistic society would look and function. Post-capitalism is expected to be made possible with further advances in automation and information technology – both of which are effectively causing production costs to trend toward zero.[3]
Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams identify a crisis in capitalism's ability and willingness to employ all members of society, arguing that "there is a growing population of people that are situated outside formal, waged work, with minimal welfare benefits, informal subsistence work, or by illegal means".[4]
Heritage check system, a socioeconomic plan that retains a market economy, but removes fractional reserve lending power from banks and limits government printing of money to offset deflation with money printed being used to buy materials to back the currency, pay for government programs in lieu of taxes, with the remainder to be split evenly among all citizens to stimulate the economy (termed a "heritage check" for which the system is named). As presented by the original author of the idea, Robert Heinlein, in his book For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs, the system would be self-reinforcing and eventually result in a regular heritage checks able to provide a modest living for most citizens.[5]
In his book Of the People, By the People: The Case for a Participatory Economy, Robin Hahnel describes a post-capitalist economy called the participatory economy.[7]
Hahnel argues that a participatory economy will return empathy to our purchasing choices. Capitalism removes the knowledge of how and by whom a product was made: "When we eat a salad the market systematically deletes information about the migrant workers who picked it".[8]
Socialism often implies common ownership of companies and a planned economy, though as an inherently pluralistic ideology, it is argued whether either are essential features.[9] In his book PostCapitalism: A Guide to our Future, Paul Mason argues that centralized planning, even with the advanced technology of today, is unachievable.[3]
Permaculture is defined by its co-originator Bill Mollison as "The conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive systems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems".[12]
Technological change that has driven unemployment has historically been a result of 'mechanical-muscle' machines, which have reduced the need for human labor. Just as horses were once employed but were gradually made obsolete by the invention of the automobile, humans' jobs have also been affected throughout history. A modern example of this technological unemployment is the replacement of retail cashiers by self-service checkouts. The invention and development of 'mechanical-mind' processes or “brain labor” is thought to threaten jobs at an unprecedented scale, with Oxford Professors Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne estimating that 47 percent of US jobs are at risk of automation.[13]
Information technology
Post-capitalism is said to be possible due to major changes information technology has brought about in recent years. It has blurred the edges between work and free time[14] and loosened the relationship between work and wages. Significantly, information is corroding the market's ability to form prices correctly. Information is abundant and information goods are freely replicable. Goods such as music, software or databases do have a production cost, but once made can be copied/pasted infinitely. If the normal price mechanism of capitalism prevails, then the price of any good which has essentially no cost of reproduction will fall towards zero.[15] This lack of scarcity is a problem for our models, which try to counter by developing monopolies in the form of giant tech companies to keep information scarce and commercial. But many significant commodities in the digital economy are now free and open-source, such as Linux, Firefox, and Wikipedia.[16]
^Wright, Tony (1986) Socialisms: theories and practices. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN9780192191885.
^Pitts, F. and Dinerstein, A. (2017). Corbynism's conveyor belt of ideas: Postcapitalism and the politics of social reproduction. Capital & Class, 41(3), pp.423-434.
^Peck, Tom (2016-08-30). "Jeremy Corbyn promises to 'rebuild Britain' with digital manifesto". Independent. Independent. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
^"What is Permaculture ?". The Permaculture Research Institute. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
^Frey, Carl Benedikt; Osborne, Michael A (2017-01-01). "The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?". Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 114: 254–280. CiteSeerX10.1.1.395.416. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2016.08.019. ISSN 0040-1625.
^N. Korody. "Architecture after capitalism, in a world without work". Retrieved 25 Jun 2017.
^P. Mason (2015-07-17). "Three dynamics leading to post-capitalism". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 Jun 2017.
^Mason, Paul (17 July 2015). "The end of capitalism has begun". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
Further reading
Albert, Michael. Parecon: Life After Capitalism. London: Verso, 2003.
Ankerl, Guy C. Beyond Monopoly Capitalism and Monopoly Socialism: Distributive Justice in a Competitive Society. Cambridge MA: Schenkman, 1978.
The Associative Economy: Insights beyond the Welfare System and into Post-Capitalism.
Bell, Karen (2015). "Can the capitalist economic system deliver environmental justice?". Environmental Research Letters. 10 (12): 125017. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/10/12/125017.
Hickel, Jason (2019). "Is it possible to achieve a good life for all within planetary boundaries?". Third World Quarterly. 40 (1): 18–35. doi:10.1080/01436597.2018.1535895.
Rifkin, Jeremy (2014). The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism. St. Martin's Press. ISBN978-1137278463
Shutt, Harry (2010). Beyond the Profits System: Possibilities for the Post-Capitalist Era. Zed Books. ISBN978-1848134171.
Steele, David Ramsay (1999). From Marx to Mises: Post-Capitalist Society and the Challenge of Economic Calculation. Open Court. ISBN978-0875484495.
Wright, Erik O. Envisioning Real Utopias. London: Verso, 2010.
May 24, 2023
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This article is about the concept in economic thought For the book by Paul Mason see PostCapitalism This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article s tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia See Wikipedia s guide to writing better articles for suggestions July 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia s quality standards You can help The talk page may contain suggestions July 2017 The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject You may improve this article discuss the issue on the talk page or create a new article as appropriate June 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Post capitalism is a hypothetical state in which the economic systems of the world can no longer be described as forms of capitalism Various individuals and political ideologies have speculated on what would define such a world According to classical Marxist and social evolutionary theories post capitalist societies may come about as a result of spontaneous evolution as capitalism becomes obsolete Others propose models to intentionally replace capitalism most notably socialism communism anarchism nationalism and degrowth Contents 1 History 2 Variations 2 1 Heritage check system 2 2 Economic democracy 2 3 Participatory economy 2 4 Socialism 2 5 Permaculture 3 Technology as a driver of post capitalism 3 1 Automation 3 2 Information technology 4 See also 5 References 6 Further readingHistory Edit In 1993 Peter Drucker outlined a possible evolution of capitalistic society in his book Post Capitalist Society In 1993 Peter Drucker outlined a possible evolution of capitalistic society in his book Post Capitalist Society 1 The book states that knowledge rather than capital land or labor is the new basis of wealth The classes of a fully post capitalist society are expected to be divided into knowledge workers or service workers in contrast to the capitalists and proletarians of a capitalist society In the book Drucker estimated the transformation to post capitalism would be completed in 2010 2020 Drucker also argued for rethinking the concept of intellectual property by creating a universal licensing system 2 In 2015 according to Paul Mason the rise of income inequality repeating cycles of boom and bust and capitalism s contributions to climate change led economists political thinkers and philosophers to begin to seriously consider how a post capitalistic society would look and function Post capitalism is expected to be made possible with further advances in automation and information technology both of which are effectively causing production costs to trend toward zero 3 Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams identify a crisis in capitalism s ability and willingness to employ all members of society arguing that there is a growing population of people that are situated outside formal waged work with minimal welfare benefits informal subsistence work or by illegal means 4 Variations EditHeritage check system Edit Main article For Us The Living A Comedy of Customs Robert Heinlein Heritage check system a socioeconomic plan that retains a market economy but removes fractional reserve lending power from banks and limits government printing of money to offset deflation with money printed being used to buy materials to back the currency pay for government programs in lieu of taxes with the remainder to be split evenly among all citizens to stimulate the economy termed a heritage check for which the system is named As presented by the original author of the idea Robert Heinlein in his book For Us The Living A Comedy of Customs the system would be self reinforcing and eventually result in a regular heritage checks able to provide a modest living for most citizens 5 Economic democracy Edit Economic democracy is a socioeconomic philosophy that establishes democratic control of firms by their workers and social control of investment by a network of public banks 6 Participatory economy Edit Main article Participatory economy In his book Of the People By the People The Case for a Participatory Economy Robin Hahnel describes a post capitalist economy called the participatory economy 7 Hahnel argues that a participatory economy will return empathy to our purchasing choices Capitalism removes the knowledge of how and by whom a product was made When we eat a salad the market systematically deletes information about the migrant workers who picked it 8 Socialism Edit Main article Socialism Paul Mason Michael Albert Socialism often implies common ownership of companies and a planned economy though as an inherently pluralistic ideology it is argued whether either are essential features 9 In his book PostCapitalism A Guide to our Future Paul Mason argues that centralized planning even with the advanced technology of today is unachievable 3 In UK politics strands of Corbynism and the Labour party have adopted this post capitalist tendency 10 11 Permaculture Edit Main article Permaculture Permaculture is defined by its co originator Bill Mollison as The conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive systems which have the diversity stability and resilience of natural ecosystems 12 Technology as a driver of post capitalism EditAutomation Edit David Graeber Technological change that has driven unemployment has historically been a result of mechanical muscle machines which have reduced the need for human labor Just as horses were once employed but were gradually made obsolete by the invention of the automobile humans jobs have also been affected throughout history A modern example of this technological unemployment is the replacement of retail cashiers by self service checkouts The invention and development of mechanical mind processes or brain labor is thought to threaten jobs at an unprecedented scale with Oxford Professors Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne estimating that 47 percent of US jobs are at risk of automation 13 Information technology Edit Post capitalism is said to be possible due to major changes information technology has brought about in recent years It has blurred the edges between work and free time 14 and loosened the relationship between work and wages Significantly information is corroding the market s ability to form prices correctly Information is abundant and information goods are freely replicable Goods such as music software or databases do have a production cost but once made can be copied pasted infinitely If the normal price mechanism of capitalism prevails then the price of any good which has essentially no cost of reproduction will fall towards zero 15 This lack of scarcity is a problem for our models which try to counter by developing monopolies in the form of giant tech companies to keep information scarce and commercial But many significant commodities in the digital economy are now free and open source such as Linux Firefox and Wikipedia 16 See also EditAnti capitalism Capitalist realism Commons based peer production Criticism of capitalism Degrowth Distributism Eco communalism Economic history of the world Evolutionary economics Historical materialism Inventing the Future Postcapitalism and a World Without Work Late capitalism P2P economic system Post democracy Post industrial society Post scarcity economy Post work society Resource based economy Sharing economy Socialist calculation debate Sociocultural evolution Tang ping lying flat Technological unemployment Solutions The Venus Project The Zeitgeist MovementReferences Edit Drucker Peter F 1993 Post Capitalist Society HarperInformation ISBN 978 0 7506 0921 0 Schwartz Peter 1 March 1993 Post Capitalist WIRED Retrieved 17 March 2016 a b Mason Paul 2015 PostCapitalism A Guide to our Future Allen Lane ISBN 9781846147388 Srnicek Nick Williams Alex Inventing the Future Postcapitalism and a World Without Work Verso Books pp 103 104 ISBN 9781784780968 Heinlein Robert 2003 For Us The Living Scribner pp 233 ISBN 978 0 7432 5998 9 Schweickart David 2002 After Capitalism Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers Inc pp 22 23 ISBN 978 0 7425 1299 3 Hahnel Robert 2012 Of the People By the People The Case for a Participatory Economy AK Press Distribution ISBN 978 0983059769 Albert Michael Hahnel Robin Participatory Planning PDF Retrieved 17 March 2016 Wright Tony 1986 Socialisms theories and practices Oxford UK Oxford University Press ISBN 9780192191885 Pitts F and Dinerstein A 2017 Corbynism s conveyor belt of ideas Postcapitalism and the politics of social reproduction Capital amp Class 41 3 pp 423 434 Peck Tom 2016 08 30 Jeremy Corbyn promises to rebuild Britain with digital manifesto Independent Independent Retrieved 8 December 2018 What is Permaculture The Permaculture Research Institute Retrieved 2021 01 19 Frey Carl Benedikt Osborne Michael A 2017 01 01 The future of employment How susceptible are jobs to computerisation Technological Forecasting and Social Change 114 254 280 CiteSeerX 10 1 1 395 416 doi 10 1016 j techfore 2016 08 019 ISSN 0040 1625 N Korody Architecture after capitalism in a world without work Retrieved 25 Jun 2017 P Mason 2015 07 17 Three dynamics leading to post capitalism The Guardian Retrieved 25 Jun 2017 Mason Paul 17 July 2015 The end of capitalism has begun The Guardian Retrieved 19 August 2019 Further reading EditAlbert Michael Parecon Life After Capitalism London Verso 2003 Ankerl Guy C Beyond Monopoly Capitalism and Monopoly Socialism Distributive Justice in a Competitive Society Cambridge MA Schenkman 1978 The Associative Economy Insights beyond the Welfare System and into Post Capitalism Bell Karen 2015 Can the capitalist economic system deliver environmental justice Environmental Research Letters 10 12 125017 doi 10 1088 1748 9326 10 12 125017 Benkler Yochai 2006 The Wealth of Networks How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom New Haven Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 12577 1 Bluhdorn Ingolfur 2017 Post capitalism post growth post consumerism Eco political hopes beyond sustainability Global Discourse 7 1 42 61 doi 10 1080 23269995 2017 1300415 Frase Peter 2016 Four futures Life After Capitalism London Verso ISBN 978 1781688137 Gibson Graham J K 2006 A Postcapitalist Politics University of Minnesota Press ISBN 978 0816648047 Hickel Jason 2019 Is it possible to achieve a good life for all within planetary boundaries Third World Quarterly 40 1 18 35 doi 10 1080 01436597 2018 1535895 Hickel Jason 2020 Less is More How Degrowth Will Save the World Penguin Random House ISBN 9781785152498 Mason Paul 2015 PostCapitalism A Guide to our Future London Allen Lane ISBN 9781846147388 Rifkin Jeremy 2014 The Zero Marginal Cost Society The Internet of Things the Collaborative Commons and the Eclipse of Capitalism St Martin s Press ISBN 978 1137278463 Shutt Harry 2010 Beyond the Profits System Possibilities for the Post Capitalist Era Zed Books ISBN 978 1848134171 Srnicek Nick Williams Alex 2015 Inventing the future Postcapitalism and a World Without Work London Verso ISBN 978 1 7847 8096 8 Steele David Ramsay 1999 From Marx to Mises Post Capitalist Society and the Challenge of Economic Calculation Open Court ISBN 978 0875484495 Wright Erik O Envisioning Real Utopias London Verso 2010 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Post capitalism amp oldid 1156547609, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
