Abstract
The title, Beyond Capitalism: Building Democratic Alternatives for Today and the Future, tells the reader a great deal about the arguments contained in this edited volume. Each of the articles loosely contributes to the overall thesis that capitalism is not simply an economic system, and as a socio-economic and political system is antithetical to democracy. This therefore renders democratising practices and policies correctives to the problems of capitalism. The collection aims to provide both a broad overview of post-capitalist theory and historically contextualised empirical studies of actual non-/anti-capitalist practices, movements and organisations. While it could not, and intentionally does not, go terribly deep into either the theories or practices (or praxes as the authors and editors would probably prefer), this volume is a useful survey of its topic. It is a mixture of social science and theoretical description that examines ideas and practices which aim beyond capitalism, economically and politically.
This text deals very little with the Marxist tradition beyond the chapter that addresses Bolivarian Marxist-Leninism in Venezuela (ch. 10) and occasional obligatory references to Marx, but instead tends to focus on the anarchist side of the socialist tradition. The plurality of examples and case studies here are from South America, but as a whole the work provides examples from Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa and India.
While this collection is intellectually sophisticated and well-researched, it is not full of jargon or obscure references to academic literature; it is accessible to a wider audience including anyone interesting in contemporary politics or economics. However, this text would still be a useful introduction to the topic for undergraduates, in that it mixes theory with real-life examples. Beyond Capitalism could also be productive for a graduate student or professor interested in a survey of some of the recent developments in the tradition of democratic socialism and post-capitalist praxis.
This book accomplishes its aim. As the editors Shantz and Macdonald state in the Foreword:
The challenge is to defeat barbarity. It is not a question of creating another world without imperfections. The human condition teaches us that there cannot be a society which is perfect, without problems. But that does not invalidate the intent to mounting a civilization which inhibits injustice notoriously (p. xxiv).
While it leaves out a great deal, this volume does a great service towards highlighting the work that is already ongoing in the spirit of that sentiment.