(in Polish) Democracy, civil society, commons. Concepts and practices of economic democracy (18th-21st century)-ZIP

The course will provide an introduction into concepts and practices of economic democracy and civil society

The onset of the global financial crisis since 2007/2008 dealt a serious blow to traditional economic thinking based on the idea of the “homo oeconomicus” – the individual striving to maximize his or her economic wellbeing. Although the neoclassical (“neoliberal”) paradigm is still dominant in economics and economic policy, there is, however, a growing interest in alternative approaches. Their proponents state, that the dominance of neoclassical economics leads to the growth of inequality not only in societies and individual countries, but also on a global scale, and that they are a threat to civil society and democracy. Instead, these people often propose the revival of more democratic, collective approaches in economic policy and a new understanding of commons.

The course will trace concepts and practices of economic democracy from the late 18th century until the present times. Based on writings from economic sociology, economic anthropology, economics and historical science it will introduce key concepts like “economic democracy” “commons” and “civil society”, discuss key writings which formed the contemporary understanding of economic democracy and cases in which economic democracy was practiced. The course will introduce the participants to different practices and institutions, which emerged over time. Among these institutions especially prominent were the cooperatives, which became so popular in the 20th century, so that many people said they could play a key role in overcoming capitalism. Why this vision failed and why there is a revival of cooperatives – though on a smaller, less visible scale in the last decade – will also be a topic of the course.

During the class the participants will acquire an understanding of concepts related to economic democracy. They will be able to describe basic tensions in capitalism and their results for the individual participants of the market. They will be able to present and critically discuss the theses of key writings as well as different practices and institutions of economic democracy in history and the present times, like cooperatives, worker self-management, social control of investments, regulation of markets, social credit, public utility, etc. Finally, they will be able to critically discuss recent developments in cooperative economy.

Seminar offered in the Integrated Action Program for the Development of the University of Warsaw, co-financed by the European Social Fund under the PO WER, path 3.5.

Barnes, Peter: Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons, San Francisco 2006;

Beckert, Jens, Zafirovski, Milan: International encyclopedia of economic sociology, London 2006;

Beckert, Jens, Bronk, Richard (eds.): Uncertain futures. Imaginaries, narratives, and calculation in the economy, Oxford, New York 2018;

Błesznowski, Bartłomiej (ed.): Cooperativism and Democracy. Selected Works of Polish Thinkers, Leiden 2018;

Cogolati, Samuel: The commons and a new global governance, Cheltenham 2018;

Crouch, Colin, Streeck, Wolfgang (eds.): The Diversity of Democracy: Corporatism, Social Order and Political Conflict. London: Edward Elgar, 2006;

Dahl, Robert A.: A Preface to Economic Democracy, Berkeley 1985;

De Moor, Tine: The Silent Revolution. A New Perspective on the Emergence of Commons, Guilds, and Other Forms of Corporate Collective Action in Western Europe, in: International Review of Social History 53 (2008), pp. 175-208;

De Moor, Tine: The dilemma of the commoners. Understanding the use of common-pool resources in long-term perspective, Cambridge 2015;

Engler, Allan: Economic Democracy. The Working-Class Alternative to Capitalism, Black Point, Nova Scotia 2010;

Fotopoulos, Takis: Towards an Inclusive Democracy. The Crisis of the Growth Economy and the Need for a New Liberatory Project, London, New York 1997;

Lorenz, Torsten (ed.): Cooperatives in Ethnic Conflicts. Eastern Europe from the late 19th until the mid 20th Century, Berlin 2006;

Piketty, Thomas: Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge, Mass. 2014;

Piketty, Thomas: Capital and Ideology, Cambridge, Mass. 2020;

Polanyi, Karl: The Great Transformation. Boston 1944;

Restakis, John: Humanizing the Economy. Co-operatives in the Age of Capital, 2010;

Smelser, Neil J., Swedberg, Richard (eds.): Handbook of Economic Sociology, Princeton 2005;

Smith, J. W.: Economic Democracy. The Political Struggle for the 21st century. Radford 2005;

Streeck, Wolfgang: How Will Capitalism End? Essays on a Failing System, New York 2017;

Swedberg, Richard, Nee, Victor (eds.): The Economic Sociology of Capitalism, Princeton 2005;

Tooze, Adam: Crashed. How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World, London 2018;

Wilk, Richard, Cliggett, Lisa: Economies and Cultures. Foundations of Economic Anthropology, Boulder 2007;

Winters, Tom: The Cooperative State. The Case for Employee Ownership on a National Scale, 2018.

During the class the participants will acquire an understanding of concepts related to economic democracy. They will be able to describe basic tensions in capitalism and their results for the individual participants of the market. They will be able to present and critically discuss the theses of key writings as well as different practices and institutions of economic democracy in history and the present times, like cooperatives, worker self-management, social control of investments, regulation of markets, social credit, public utility, etc. Finally, they will be able to critically discuss recent developments in cooperative economy

The Students’ performance will be continuously evaluated on the basis of their participation in the discussions and on their concluding term paper.