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Book Overview
Tocqueville pessimistically predicted that liberty and equality would be incompatible ideas. Robert Dahl, author of the classic A Preface to Democratic Theory, explores this alleged conflict, particularly in modern American society where differences in ownership and control of corporate enterprises create inequalities in resources among Americans that in turn generate inequality among them as citizens.
Arguing that Americans have misconceived the relation between democracy, private property, and the economic order, the author contends that we can achieve a society of real democracy and political equality without sacrificing liberty by extending democratic principles into the economic order. Although enterprise control by workers violates many conventional political and ideological assumptions of corporate capitalism as well as of state socialism. Dahl presents an empirically informed and philosophically acute defense of "workplace democracy." He argues, in the light of experiences here and abroad, that an economic system of worker-owned and worker-controlled enterprises could provide a much better foundation for democracy, political equality, and liberty than does our present system of corporate capitalism.
Arguing that Americans have misconceived the relation between democracy, private property, and the economic order, the author contends that we can achieve a society of real democracy and political equality without sacrificing liberty by extending democratic principles into the economic order. Although enterprise control by workers violates many conventional political and ideological assumptions of corporate capitalism as well as of state socialism. Dahl presents an empirically informed and philosophically acute defense of "workplace democracy." He argues, in the light of experiences here and abroad, that an economic system of worker-owned and worker-controlled enterprises could provide a much better foundation for democracy, political equality, and liberty than does our present system of corporate capitalism.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0520058771
ISBN13:9780520058774
Release Date:August 1986
Publisher:University of California Press
Length:192 Pages
Weight:0.54 lbs.
Dimensions:0.6" x 4.9" x 7.9"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
Well Written and Persuasive
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 14 years ago
Robert Dahl is considered one of America's archetypal theorists of democracy. Most know him for his rather optimistic account of local pluralism in Who Governs, and some have dismissed him as a neo-liberal who ignores the reality of economic power. Yet that condemnation would ignore a marked shift in Dahl's thought later in his life. A Preface to Economic Democracy might be the clearest and most realistic piece of prose I have ever read regarding the connection between democracy and economics, and the most convincing case I have read in defence of decentralized market socialism. Remarkably free of jargon and utopian fervour, Dahl's Preface is an essential book for anyone interested in democracy (radical or otherwise), and in realistic alternatives to untrammelled neo-liberal economics.
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