Category Archives: Comments on Wright, ‘Envisioning Real Utopias’

Socialist Equality and Majestic Equality

Posted on August 6, 2010 by

Does socialism have any particular connection with equality? In the last couple of days I’ve been talking about definitions in terms of ownership, power, and institutions, but haven’t said anything about equality, even though it’s often thought to be specially … Continue reading →

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Socialism and Worker’s Councils

Posted on August 5, 2010 by

Following yesterday’s comments about Wright’s definition of socialism as “an economy dominated by social power”, here are two critical points. The first isn’t much of an objection on its own, but more an observation that leads into the second point. … Continue reading →

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Socialism and Social Power

Posted on August 4, 2010 by

More thoughts on Erik Olin Wright‘s book “Envisioning Real Utopias“, in particular on his definition of ‘socialism’. I happen to think that defining ‘socialism’ is quite easy: it means collective ownership of the means of production. The thing is that … Continue reading →

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Are All Genuine Values Ultimately Reconcilable?

Posted on July 30, 2010 by

The results of last post’s poll show a majority picking the answer “the question as it stands is ill-defined”. Indeed it is! So let’s define a bit. Values What are ‘all genuine values’? In what ways might they conflict? Here’s … Continue reading →

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Dissecting Utopia: Soluble and Insoluble Problems

Posted on July 28, 2010 by

What is meant in calling a prediction of the future, or a political theory making such predictions, ‘utopian’? Of course it means that it’s unrealistic and optimistic, but can this be made at least moderately precise – the sort of … Continue reading →

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Utopian Common Sense

Posted on July 26, 2010 by

I’ve just finished reading “Envisioning Real Utopias“, part of the “Real Utopias Project” (a good book which I recommend), and felt like posting a few quotes from it. I post them not because I think they’re dazzling insights or brilliant … Continue reading →

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