Economic Democracy

The central argument of this study is that by pursuing the goal of economic democracy, socialism can return to the heart of political life in the advanced capitalist countries. Aimed at socialists and nonsocialists alike, the text should demonstrate that there is both a strong moral case for economic democracy and a feasible strategy for achieving it. The author defines economic democracy as a system in which firms operate in a market economy, but are governed by their workers. To show that economic democracy is a morally desirable goal, he appeals to the value of individual freedom. To show that it is a feasible goal, he appeals to the advantages of a corporatist industrial relations system. A corporatist system enables workers to pursue economic democracy through a series of trade-offs in which they exchange wage rises or other goods for incremental increases in control. But rational governments and capitalists will only agree to these trade-offs if certain conditions are met. Archer sets out these conditions and argues that they have in fact been met in recent years.