Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future

by Paul Mason

Overview

We know that our world is undergoing seismic change—but how can we emerge from the crisis a fairer, more equal society?

Over the past two centuries or so, capitalism has undergone profound changes—economic cycles that veer from boom to bust—from which it has always emerged transformed and strengthened. Surveying this turbulent history, Paul Mason’s Postcapitalism argues that we are on the brink of a change so big and so profound that this time capitalism itself, the immensely complex system within which entire societies function, will mutate into something wholly new.

At the heart of this change is information technology, a revolution that is driven by capitalism but, with its tendency to push the value of much of what we make toward zero, has the potential to destroy an economy based on markets, wages, and private ownership. Almost unnoticed, in the niches and hollows of the market system, swaths of economic life are beginning to move to a different rhythm. Vast numbers of people are changing how they behave and live, in ways contrary to the current system of state-backed corporate capitalism. And as the terrain changes, new paths open.

In this bold and prophetic book, Mason shows how, from the ashes of the crisis, we have the chance to create a more socially just and sustainable economy. Although the dangers ahead are profound, he argues that there is cause for hope. This is the first time in human history in which, equipped with an understanding of what is happening around us, we can predict and shape the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374536732
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	02/21/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	678,506
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Paul Mason was the award-winning economics editor of Channel 4 News. His books include Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed and Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions. He writes for The Guardian and the New Statesman, among other publications.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Part I

1 Neoliberalism Is Broken 3

2 Long Waves, Short Memories 31

3 Was Marx Right? 49

4 The Long, Disrupted Wave 79

Part II

5 The Prophets of Postcapitalism 109

6 Towards the Free Machine 146

7 Beautiful Troublemakers 177

Part III

8 On Transitions 217

9 The Rational Case for Panic 245

10 Project Zero 263

Notes 293

Acknowledgements 313

Index 315

Editorial Reviews

“Even readers not quite persuaded will appreciate Mason's readable, reportorial style, his use of a wide range of economists, business gurus, and economic thinkers to help support his thesis, and his deft treatment of sometimes-difficult economic theories . . . A radical diagnosis and a bold prognostication bound to energize progressives.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[Postcapitalism]'s vision for the future . . . is absorbing and provocative.” —Publishers Weekly

“Mason weaves together varied intellectual threads to produce a fascinating set of ideas . . . The thesis about ‘postcapitalism’ deserves a wide readership among right and left alike . . . Politicians of all stripes should take note. And so should the people who vote for them.” —Gillian Tett, Financial Times

“Deeply engaging . . . [Mason] is asking the most interesting questions, unafraid of where they might lead. What’s more, he writes with freshness and insight on almost every page . . . I can’t remember the last book I read that managed to carve its way through the forest of political and economic ideas with such brio . . . As a spark to the imagination, with frequent x-ray flashes of insight into the way we live now, it is hard to beat. In that sense, Mason is a worthy successor to Marx.” —David Runciman, The Guardian

“Ecological crisis signals the death knell for an economic system that was already profoundly failing us, as Paul Mason mercilessly illustrates in these pages. Building on a remarkable career's worth of reporting on the frontlines of global capitalism and worker resistance, this book is an original, engaging, and bracingly-articulated vision of real alternatives. It is sure to many spark vigorous debates, and they are precisely the ones we should be having.” —Naomi Klein

“After postmodernism and all other fashionable post-trends, Mason fearlessly confronts the only true post-, postcapitalism. While we can see all around us ominous signs of the impasses of global capitalism, it is perhaps more than ever difficult to imagine a feasible alternative to it. How are we to deal with this frustrating situation? Although Mason's book is irresistibly readable, this clarity should not deceive us: it is a book which compels us to think!” —Slavoj Žižek

From the Publisher

01/01/2016
British economics journalist Mason (Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere) thinks that information technology is creating such vast changes that the capitalist system can't adapt and is therefore ripe for replacement. He argues that information technology tends "to dissolve markets, destroy ownership and break down the relationship between work and wages" and that the transition to postcapitalism, if it is to take place, needs to be based upon experimentation, collaboration, and arbitration rather than the Soviet-style command and control. Mason even describes "the emergence of a new kind of human being." In arguing for these large claims, which are made with an air of total assurance, the author utilizes various analytical tools such as the labor theory of value and Nikolai Kondratieff's "long wave theory," though he is not averse to modifying those frameworks. Despite Mason's preemptive protests, it is easy to regard the book as an exercise in technoutopianism. Readers unconvinced by the arguments may still find the discussion of certain aspects of the history of economic thought to be of interest. VERDICT This prolix, sophisticated work is most likely to appeal to those with a developed taste for speculating about the future. [See Prepub Alert, 8/24/15.]—Shmuel Ben-Gad, Gelman Lib., George Washington Univ., Washington, DC

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