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Raju J Das, Jamie Gough and Aram Eisenschitz provide a Marxist critique of new social democracy as the dominant contemporary strategy for local economic and social development. In both the global North and South, new social democracy seeks to develop social capital, strengthen civil society, build not-for-pro¬fit enterprises, encourage self-help, and foster community ties. It seeks participatory forms of local politics to achieve a local class consensus. It promises to improve people's economic and social conditions in the face of neoliberal capitalism, and to empower them. The authors argue that this strategy is severely limited by, and internalises, its capitalist environment. They show that social enterprise can be developed in socialist ways, and contribute to a local politics based in class struggle. But social capital cannot replace the struggle of the exploited and oppressed against capitalism and for a socialist society, a strategy which the authors outline for the local scale.
Price: $162.00
Pages: 224
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Studies in Critical Social Sciences
Publication Date:
13 July 2023
ISBN: 9789004546875
Format: Hardcover
"The book provides a robust Marxist critique of what the authors term the ‘new social democracy’. [...] The authors critique this shift as a response to the global economic crises of the 1970s and the rise of neoliberalism, arguing that it internalizes many neoliberal tropes while offering minimal benefits to the working class. [...] By focusing on small-scale, localized solutions, these approaches risk perpetuating self-exploitation and reinforcing neoliberal norms rather than challenging them. [...] The authors argue that this approach offers a more effective and sustainable path toward addressing the challenges posed by global capitalism and neoliberalism." — V.Kalyani, in: Capital & Class, Vol. 49, Issue 2 (2025), pp. 381-392
Raju J. Das, Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, is Professor at York University, Toronto. His research interests include Marxist political economy. His recent books include Marxist Class Theory for a Skeptical World, Marx’s Capital, Capitalism and Limits to the State.
Aram Eisenschitz teaches at the Business School, Middlesex University, UK. His research interests include spatial political economy, urban planning and tourism. He and Jamie Gough are the authors of The Politics of Local Economic Policy and Spaces of Social Exclusion.
Jamie Gough, Ph.D., taught at Sheffield University. His research interests include spatial political economy, local and national societies, theories of economic crisis, dynamics of the labour process, social reproduction, and poverty. He is author of Work, Locality and the Rhythms of Capital.
Aram Eisenschitz teaches at the Business School, Middlesex University, UK. His research interests include spatial political economy, urban planning and tourism. He and Jamie Gough are the authors of The Politics of Local Economic Policy and Spaces of Social Exclusion.
Jamie Gough, Ph.D., taught at Sheffield University. His research interests include spatial political economy, local and national societies, theories of economic crisis, dynamics of the labour process, social reproduction, and poverty. He is author of Work, Locality and the Rhythms of Capital.