Cynthia Kaufman – författare

Getting Past Capitalism begins with a critique of the impacts of capitalism on human society and the environment. It looks in new ways at what capitalism is and at how it is reproduced. That investigation opens the door to fresh ways of looking at how to challenge it. Cynthia Kaufman looks at some fundamental questions about how capitalism comes to look like a system that is unbeatable, and how people come to have desires that work to reinforce capitalism. Kaufman uses this analysis to develop ideas about how to challenge capitalism. She argues that rather than looking for the fulcrum point in a system that will make it able to be overthrown, we should try to understand what kinds of practices open more spaces for stopping the reproduction of capitalist processes, and what kinds of structures need to be developed to make capitalism a less important part of our world. Getting Past Capitalism includes a critique of capitalism and presentation of alternatives to capitalism, many of which already exist. It explores strategies for developing and strengthening those alternatives.

What would it take to have a world where everyone had enough? How can we eliminate poverty, leave enough for nonhuman nature, and increase well-being? This book explores ways the reader can live their life, engage with cultural change, and engage with policy making, to build that world. We are presently on a path to environmental destruction, as our societies are driven by forces which leave many people without what they need to meet their basic needs, while also wasting vast resources on an unsatisfying consumer economy. The current system does not lead to a sense of wellbeing, even among those who are relatively materially comfortable. This book focuses on solutions for building a world of enough. It explains how we can reorient our thinking and take the steps necessary to transform our social systems. It looks at ways to reduce the insatiable desire for status and consumption that drive our economies. It focuses on emerging approaches to economics that take well-being as their goal and explores the policies that are crucial for getting there, such as reducing inequality, investing in public goods, and reducing work time. The book arms the reader with a variety of tools for building a world where everyone has enough for a good life.

What would it take to have a world where everyone had enough? How can we eliminate poverty, leave enough for nonhuman nature, and increase well-being? This book explores ways the reader can live their life, engage with cultural change, and engage with policy making, to build that world. We are presently on a path to environmental destruction, as our societies are driven by forces which leave many people without what they need to meet their basic needs, while also wasting vast resources on an unsatisfying consumer economy. The current system does not lead to a sense of wellbeing, even among those who are relatively materially comfortable. This book focuses on solutions for building a world of enough. It explains how we can reorient our thinking and take the steps necessary to transform our social systems. It looks at ways to reduce the insatiable desire for status and consumption that drive our economies. It focuses on emerging approaches to economics that take well-being as their goal and explores the policies that are crucial for getting there, such as reducing inequality, investing in public goods, and reducing work time. The book arms the reader with a variety of tools for building a world where everyone has enough for a good life.

Organizers all around the world are working to build ways of managing resources that serve human and ecological needs. But how can these projects be more than small islands of solidarity and sustainability surrounded by oceans of domination and environmental destruction?Solidarity Economics: Building Sustainable Social Relations lays out the landscape of these projects aimed at building a better world, and explores the institutional frameworks needed for them to expand. It asks broader questions about what is needed to help them build toward just and sustainable societies based on relations of solidarity. Drawing on Indigenous economics and anti-capitalist theory, this book critiques the idea of an economy as something autonomous from the rest of society and helps us see practical pathways to building systems which ensure that everyone’s needs are met.This accessible book provides an important overview of key issues around social theory, the environment, and practical social action to investigate new ways of overcoming the cultural and social issues around class, race, gender, climate change, human identity, and economics.

Organizers all around the world are working to build ways of managing resources that serve human and ecological needs. But how can these projects be more than small islands of solidarity and sustainability surrounded by oceans of domination and environmental destruction?Solidarity Economics: Building Sustainable Social Relations lays out the landscape of these projects aimed at building a better world, and explores the institutional frameworks needed for them to expand. It asks broader questions about what is needed to help them build toward just and sustainable societies based on relations of solidarity. Drawing on Indigenous economics and anti-capitalist theory, this book critiques the idea of an economy as something autonomous from the rest of society and helps us see practical pathways to building systems which ensure that everyone’s needs are met.This accessible book provides an important overview of key issues around social theory, the environment, and practical social action to investigate new ways of overcoming the cultural and social issues around class, race, gender, climate change, human identity, and economics.

Arguing that we only have democracy when systems of power are held to account, Kaufman examines the real work being done to challenge the operations of power that underlie four unruly social problems: climate change, sweatshop labour, police abuse, and economic deprivation. In Challenging Power, Kaufman pairs each of these issues with an operation of power -- the large scale influence of multinational corporations; the power of governments; the authority of financial markets; and the control inherent in systems of meaning -- and using case studies like the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh and the killing of Eric Garner, forcefully demonstrates what is involved in challenging these operations of power.Advancing a positive message, Kaufman maintains that these networks are not omnipotent and can be challenged if we develop 'mechanisms of accountability' which allow us to conceptualise the nature of these problems and the actions required to resist them. Kaufman provides then, a model for ethical action that allows us to investigate and appreciate our own connections to the powerful forces that control our world.

Arguing that we only have democracy when systems of power are held to account, Kaufman examines the real work being done to challenge the operations of power that underlie four unruly social problems: climate change, sweatshop labour, police abuse, and economic deprivation. In Challenging Power, Kaufman pairs each of these issues with an operation of power -- the large scale influence of multinational corporations; the power of governments; the authority of financial markets; and the control inherent in systems of meaning -- and using case studies like the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh and the killing of Eric Garner, forcefully demonstrates what is involved in challenging these operations of power.Advancing a positive message, Kaufman maintains that these networks are not omnipotent and can be challenged if we develop 'mechanisms of accountability' which allow us to conceptualise the nature of these problems and the actions required to resist them. Kaufman provides then, a model for ethical action that allows us to investigate and appreciate our own connections to the powerful forces that control our world.