The 99 Percent Economy

Description

We live in a time of crises - economic turmoil, workplace disempowerment, unresponsive government, environmental degradation, social disintegration, and international rivalry. In The 99 Percent Economy, Paul S. Adler, a leading expert on business management, argues that these crises are destined to deepen unless we radically transform our economy.

But despair is not an option, and Adler provides a compelling alternative: democratic socialism. He argues that to overcome these crises we need to assert democratic control over the management of both individual enterprises and the entire national economy. To show how that would work, he draws on a surprising source of inspiration: the strategic management processes of many of our largest corporations. In these companies, the strategy process promises to involve and empower workers and to ensure efficiency and innovation. In practice, this promise is rarely realized, but in principle, that process could be consolidated within enterprises and it could be scaled-up to the national level.

Standing in the way? Private ownership of society's productive resources, which is the foundation of capitalism's ruthless competition and focus on private gain at the cost of society, the environment, and future generations. Adler shows how socialized, public ownership of our resources will enable democratic councils at the local and national levels to decide on our economic, social, and environmental goals and on how to reach them. The growing concentration of industry makes this socialization step ever easier.

Democratic socialism is not a leap into the unknown, Adler shows. Capitalist industry has built the foundations for a world beyond capitalism and its crises.

About the author:

Paul S. Adler is the Harold Quinton Chair of Business Policy, and Professor of Management and Organization, Environmental Studies, and Sociology at the University of Southern California. In 2014-15, he served as President of the Academy of Management, the leading organization of the leading organization of management scholars.

Reviews

"This is an important book on an issue crucial to organizational theorists of every stripe. Adler is dealing with fundamental issues about how best to structure and manage our organizations, and he has done so in a way that will provoke the kinds of conversations that our field and our world desperately need." - Mark S. Mizruchi, University of Michigan, Administrative Science Quarterly

"What does "democratisation" mean in concrete terms? Some millennial socialists say everyone should be guaranteed a job; others want a universal basic income, a drastic reduction in the working week, or both. It also means promoting non-traditional forms of business organisation, including co-operatives, which give workers a decisive role in the day-to-day management of their company. Mr. Adler thinks through how such plans would function. Drawing on his expertise in management, he explains in detail how firms could be managed along socialist lines." - The Economist

"From Bernie Sanders to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, candidates who call themselves socialists are winning more elections and wielding wider influence. Paul Adler's timely new book helps us imagine what a political economy, based on socialist ideas, might actually look like and how it might operate for the benefit of millions of Americans who are not well-served by our current system. The 99 Percent Economy is not just a compelling indictment of capitalism run amuck. Adler makes a clear and convincing case for economic planning, expanded public investment, and greater social ownership and democratic management of productive enterprises. His book will be an essential educational tool for activists in labor and on the left." - Steve Early, Former International Representative for the Communications Workers of America and author of Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of an American City

"Lucidly written and powerfully argued. Rarely do we get insight into the opportunities a truly democratic socialist economy might offer from an expert who knows how decisions are really made in leading corporations and large institutions. A must read for anyone interested in the creation of a progressive future." - Gar Alperovitz, Author of America Beyond Capitalism and CoFounder of The Democracy Collaborative

"Paul Adler asks whether society can be reorganized for the benefit of its majority, that is, help those regularly disempowered? His book, The 99 Percent Economy begins with a radical premise that the economy should serve the vast majority rather than the other way around. Adler asks us to engage in a discussion about a different future that can move humanity away from the abyss and in the direction of a socialism that is democratic, radical, and visionary." - Bill Fletcher, Jr., Former president of TransAfrica Forum; writer and labor activist

Table of contents

Introduction

1. Five crises
2. The capitalist roots of these crises
3. A growing tension
4. The promise and limits of reform
5. Managing our economy, democratically and effectively
6. A democratic socialist America
7 . Getting there
References