Documents Wright, Erik Olin 8 results

"This article proposes a general theoretical framework for understanding the concept of “class compromise ” in terms of a “reverse-J ” model of the relationship between the associational power of workers and the interests of capitalists: increases in working-class power adversely affect capitalist-class interests until such power crosses some intermediate threshold beyond which further increases in working-class power are potentially beneficial to capitalists ' interests. This article argues that the reverse-J curve is itself the result of two distinct kinds of effects of workers ' power on capitalists ' interests: one, a negative effect, in which workers ' power undermines the capacity of capitalists to unilaterally make various kinds of decisions, and the second, a positive effect, in which workers ' power helps capitalists solve the various kinds of collective action problems they face. The concept of “class compromise ” invokes three quite distinct images."

"Precariousness is a pervasive and increasing condition of life in both the developed and less developed regions of the world. Guy Standing has proposed a reconceptualisation of these trends from precarity as a condition to the precariat as a class distinct from the working class. This article presents a Marxist critique of this reconceptualisation on two principle grounds: first, that the material interests of people in the precariat and in the working class are not sufficiently opposed to each other for these to constitute two distinct classes; and second, that across the various segments of the precariat the optimal strategies for securing a livelihood are not sufficiently unified for the precariat as a whole to constitute a class."

"We explore a range of issues concerning the gender gap in workplace authority in seven countries (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, Norway, and Japan). There are six main empirical conclusions. First, there is considerable cross-national variation in the gender gap in authority: The gap is lowest in the four English-speaking countries (especially the United States and Australia) and highest in Japan. Second, the gender gap in authority within countries and the pattern of cross-national variation do not appear to be the result of gender differences in personal attributes or employment settings. Third, the self-selection hypothesis (that women choose not to seek authority because of family responsibilities) does not appear to account for much of the gender gap in authority, except perhaps in Canada. Fourth, we find little support for the "glass-ceiling" hypothesis that barriers to upward promotions for women in authority hierarchies are greater than the barriers they face in getting into hierarchies in the first place. Fifth, in the United States the barriers faced by women already in hierarchies are weaker than in other countries, and probably weaker than the barriers they faced to enter hierarchies in the first place. Finally, we find suggestive evidence that these variations across countries in the gender gap in authority are explained by the interaction between the availability of managerial positions and the capacity of politically organized women's movements to challenge barriers to women gaining authority in the workplace."

"Wolfgang Streeck convincingly argues, in an influential paper published in 1997, that economic performance in market societies is enhanced when the rational, voluntaristic choices of actors are constrained by a variety of normative and institutional constraints. This paper offers three modifications of this central Durkheimian thesis: (1) the meaning of "good performance" of an economic system differs among class actors in a market economy; (2) the level of institutional constraint that is optimal for "good economic performance" in the interests of capitalists is generally lower than the level of constraints that is optimal for workers; and (3) institutional constraints on voluntary rational choice—even those optimal for capitalists—also may have dynamic effects on the balance of power among social forces which could lead capitalists to prefer suboptimal constraints from the point of view of "economic performance."

"Perhaps the most intractable aspect of gender inequality concerns inequalities within the family around the domestic division of labor, especially over child care and other forms of caregiving. These enduring gender inequalities constitute a significant obstacle to achieving "strong gender egalitarianism"—a structure of social relations in which the division of labor around housework and caregiving within the family and occupational distributions within the public sphere are unaffected by gender. This article explores three kinds of publicly supported parental caregiving leaves that bear on the potential for public policy to transform this private realm of inequality: (1) equality-impeding policies (e.g., unpaid caregiving leaves), (2) equality-enabling policies (e.g., paid caregiving leaves given to families), and (3) equality-promoting policies (e.g., paid caregiving leaves given to individuals rather than families). The authors defend the third of these as necessary, given the importance of cultural constraints on the slow erosion of the gender division of labor over caregiving activities."

"Par l'un des plus grands sociologues américains contemporains, une proposition radicale et concrète de nouvelle boussole pour inventer et pratiquer le post-capitalisme, sans attendre des jours meilleurs ou les lendemains qui chantent. Des horizons des possibles, dont les étapes demeurent accessibles, des architectures collectives capables de tenir lorsque, comme aujourd'hui, dominent les conditions défavorables au changement social.
Pourquoi et comment sortir du capitalisme ? Quelles sont les alternatives d'ores et déjà présentes ? Peut-on, doit-on réinventer les socialismes par des réalisations concrètes ? Avec quels outils, quelles formes d'action, quelles institutions ? Telles sont les vastes questions, solidaires les unes des autres, auxquelles répond ce livre original et magistral, synthèse d'une enquête internationale et collective de plusieurs années sur les théories les plus actuelles de l'émancipation ainsi que sur de nombreux projets vivants de transformation radicale, ou plus graduelle, déjà observables dans les domaines sociaux, économiques et politiques.
À partir d'un regard rigoureux et acéré, appelé à fonder un nouveau programme de recherche sur les expérimentations postcapitalistes contemporaines, se détachent une conception neuve du progrès et de ses instruments potentiels ainsi qu'une vision scientifique des modalités de dépassement du capitalisme. Les utopies réelles ne sont ni pour les idéalistes ni pour les réalistes. Ce sont les expériences vécues, les projections audacieuses qui créent dès maintenant les conditions comme les formes d'un avenir meilleur, d'un autre futur possible.
Traité savant, arme au service d'un renouveau nécessaire de l'imagination politique, Utopies réelles figure déjà parmi les classiques de la pensée sociale du XXIe siècle."

"Capitalism has transformed the world and increased our productivity, but at the cost of enormous human suffering. Our shared values, equality and fairness, democracy and freedom, community and solidarity, can both provide the basis for a critique of capitalism, and help to guide us towards a socialist and democratic society. In this elegant book, Erik Olin Wright has distilled decades of work into a concise and tightly argued manifesto analyzing the varieties of anti-capitalism, assessing different strategic approaches, and laying the foundations for a society dedicated to human flourishing. How to Be an Anticapitalist is an urgent and powerful argument for socialism, and a unparalleled guide to help us get there. Another world is possible."