How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century audiobook cover - A pragmatic strategic guide to building an alternative economic system

How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century

A pragmatic strategic guide to building an alternative economic system

Erik Olin Wright

4.2 / 5(110 ratings)
Categories:

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

Listen to How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century — Free Audiobook

Loading player...

Key Takeaways from How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century

Learning Tools

Reinforce what you learned from How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century

Mind Map

How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century
Critique of Capitalism+
Evolving Anticapitalist Thought+
The Democratic Socialist Alternative+
Strategies for Change+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 10
What was the primary aim of Analytical Marxism, the school of thought Erik Olin Wright championed?
  • A. To completely replace traditional Marxist concepts with modern capitalist economics.
  • B. To take the ideas of traditional Marxism and get rid of the 'bullshit' through a cross-disciplinary approach.
  • C. To advocate for a return to the exact political structures of the Soviet Union.
  • D. To reject sociology entirely in favor of pure economic theory.
Question 2 of 10
Why does Wright argue that classical Marxism's reliance solely on 'class interests' is insufficient for modern anticapitalist movements?
  • A. Because the working class no longer exists in developed nations.
  • B. Because capitalists now share their wealth equally with workers, eliminating class struggle.
  • C. Because contemporary capitalism has a fragmentary class structure where people often occupy contradictory class locations.
  • D. Because people today are motivated exclusively by moral values rather than economic needs.
Question 3 of 10
How does the text use Friedrich Engels to illustrate the importance of moral values in anticapitalist politics?
  • A. As a wealthy capitalist, his economic self-interests aligned with capitalism, yet he opposed it because he found it morally offensive.
  • B. As an impoverished worker, he realized his class interests only through studying moral philosophy.
  • C. He argued that moral values should be entirely removed from anticapitalist political movements to focus on pure economics.
  • D. He used his moral authority to convince Karl Marx to support a mixed capitalist economy.
Question 4 of 10
Which of the following is NOT one of the three pairs of core values Wright proposes as the normative foundation for anticapitalism?
  • A. Equality / fairness
  • B. Democracy / freedom
  • C. Efficiency / productivity
  • D. Community / solidarity
Question 5 of 10
According to the text, how does democratic socialism primarily differ from statism regarding how economic power is exercised?
  • A. Democratic socialism relies on state coercion, while statism relies on market bribery.
  • B. Democratic socialism relies on social power and persuasion, while statism relies on state power and coercion.
  • C. Democratic socialism eliminates all markets, while statism preserves free-market competition.
  • D. Democratic socialism is controlled by wealthy elites, while statism is controlled by ordinary workers.
Question 6 of 10
What does the author mean when describing capitalism, statism, and democratic socialism as 'ideal types'?
  • A. They are utopian societies that can never realistically be achieved.
  • B. They are the three best possible systems for organizing human society.
  • C. They are theoretical, pure forms of economic systems that do not exist in their absolute state in the real world.
  • D. They are outdated sociological concepts that are no longer useful for describing modern economies.
Question 7 of 10
According to Wright, how should the transition from capitalism to democratic socialism occur?
  • A. Through a sudden, violent revolution that completely smashes the capitalist state.
  • B. Through a gradual process of erosion, similar to how capitalism slowly replaced feudalism.
  • C. By waiting for capitalism to naturally collapse under the weight of its own economic contradictions.
  • D. By electing a single, powerful leader who will unilaterally impose socialist policies.
Question 8 of 10
What role does the market play in Wright's vision of a democratic socialist future?
  • A. The market would be entirely abolished and replaced by centralized state planning.
  • B. The market would continue to act as a coordination mechanism where worker-owned and state-owned enterprises sell goods and services.
  • C. The market would be restricted exclusively to the trading of luxury goods and non-essential services.
  • D. The market would function exactly as it does under capitalism, with absolutely no state intervention.
Question 9 of 10
Which of the following best defines Wright's strategy of 'escaping capitalism'?
  • A. Implementing policies like Universal Basic Income to counteract the harms of the labor market.
  • B. Organizing labor unions to actively fight back against low wages and poor working conditions.
  • C. Finding ways to do things in a non-capitalist, egalitarian manner, such as forming worker cooperatives.
  • D. Gradually transferring the ownership of large corporations from private investors to the state.
Question 10 of 10
Providing a Universal Basic Income (UBI) to counteract the instability of the labor market is an example of which anti-capitalist strategy?
  • A. Taming capitalism
  • B. Resisting capitalism
  • C. Escaping capitalism
  • D. Dismantling capitalism

How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century — Full Chapter Overview

How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century Summary & Overview

How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century (2019) is both a moral critique of capitalism and a pragmatic strategy guide to building an alternative economic system. Drawing from Erik Olin Wright’s four decades of work in sociology, it provides a nuanced account of why democratic socialism is both possible and desirable.

Who Should Listen to How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century?

  • Anticapitalists looking for new ways of thinking
  • Pro-capitalists who want to understand their opponents’ views
  • Skeptics who aren’t sure which side of the debate is right

About the Author: Erik Olin Wright

American sociologist Erik Olin Wright was one of the most prominent and influential thinkers of a school of thought called Analytical Marxism. Along with other Analytical Marxists in the fields of history, economics, and philosophy, he sought to bridge the gap between classical Marxism and modern social science. He taught sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for more than 30 years and was the author of 10 books, including Envisioning Real Utopias and Understanding Class. Wright died in 2019.

🎧
Listen in the AppOffline playback & background play
Get App