Paul Auerbach Socialist Optimism

Annotation

Paul Auerbach's Socialist Optimism offers an alternative political economy for thetwenty-first century. Present-day capitalism has generated growing inequalityof income and wealth, persistent high levels of unemployment andever-diminishing prospects for young people. But in the absence of a positivevision of how society and the economy might develop in the future, the presenttrajectory of capitalism will never be derailed, no matter how acute thecritique of present-day developments. The detailed blueprint presented here focuses upon the education andupbringing of children in the context of social equality and householdsecurity. It yields a well-defined path to human development and liberation, aswell as democratic control of working life and public affairs. Socialism ashuman development gives a unity and direction to progressive policies that areotherwise seen to be a form of pragmatic tinkering in the context of apervasive capitalist reality.