Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism

Tony Smith, Ph.D. State University of New York at Stony Brook (1980), is Professor of Philosophy at Iowa State University. Professor Smith’s books include The Logic of Marx’s Capital (SUNY, 1990), Technology and Capital (SUNY, 2000) and Globalisation (Brill, 2005).

“Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism provides [...] an excellent account of why Marx thought that a capitalist market society will never deliver freedom, equality and human flourishing. It is an important resource for anyone who wants to understand the challenge Marx presents to liberal egalitarian political philosophy.”—Jan Kandiyali, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books“The most important contribution to a dialogue between liberals and Marxists since C. B. MacPherson’s analysis of possessive individualism.” —Matthew McManus, Liberal Currents“The appearance of this book, especially in the current era of the dominance of normative social and political theory in departments of analytic philosophy, is most welcome.”—Arash Abazari, Journal of Moral Philosophy

• PrefaceList of Figures1 Liberal EgalitarianismIntroductionWell-beingAutonomous AgencyAccess to ResourcesThe Development of Essential CapabilitiesDemocratic Will-Formation2 Towards a Liberal Egalitarian Normative Theory of InstitutionsThe HouseholdMarket Production and DistributionThe StateCivil Society: The Public Sphere and Voluntary AssociationsThe Regime of Global Governance3 Misunderstandings, False Starts, Further QuestionsSome Marxian Objections to Liberal EgalitarianismLiberal Egalitarian Criticisms of MarxConclusion4 The Beginning Level of Marxian TheoryThe Beginning Level of Theoretical Abstraction (1): The Commodity, Value, Abstract LabourThe Beginning Level of Theoretical Abstraction (2): MoneyNormative ConsiderationsConclusion5 Marx’s Concept of CapitalMarx’s Concept of Capital (1): Capital as a ‘Dominant Subject’Ontological and Normative Implications of the General Formula of CapitalNormative ImplicationsMarx’s Concept of Capital (2): Capital as a ‘Pseudo-Subject’6 Human Flourishing and the Structural Tendencies of CapitalismThe Capital/Wage Labour RelationshipOveraccumulation CrisesFinancial CrisesEnvironmental CrisesSevere Global Inequality and PovertyConclusion7 A Liberal Egalitarian Response to the Marxian ChallengeThe Critique of EconomismA Reform Agenda8 Towards A Marxian Theory of ‘The Political’Five Theses on the Capitalist StateA Critical Examination of Liberal Egalitarian ProposalsConclusion9 Competing Perspectives on NeoliberalismA Liberal Egalitarian NarrativeBeyond Liberal Egalitarianism: A Marxian Critique of NeoliberalismConclusion10 Two Modified Versions of Liberal Egalitarianism‘Neo-Schumpeterian’ Liberal EgalitarianismThe Normative Promise of ‘Commons-Based Peer Production’11 Modified Liberal Egalitarianism and the Present Moment in World HistoryProspects for a New ‘Golden Age’The Prospects of Commons-Based Peer ProductionConclusion12 Property-Owning Democracy: A Liberal Egalitarianism Beyond Capitalism?Property-Owning Democracy (1)Property-Owning Democracy (2)Property-Owning Democracy (3)13 Beyond Liberal EgalitarianismThe Argument Thus FarBeyond Liberal EgalitarianismBibliographyIndex