Integration by Cooperation

The last thirty years were lost years. The neoliberal revolution and its economic absolutism have led to injustice and to a loss of freedom. Every realm of life has become subordinated to economic criteria as the competitive homo oeconomicus has been made the exclusive concept of humankind. This book proposes an alternative that's based on cooperation. To overcome the supremacy of the economy, with its isolated individuals who lack solidarity, a new social theory is developed, one that's grounded on an interactive understanding of freedom and enriched by solidarity, responsibility, and justice. It is a constructivist approach that makes us responsible for the "reality" we live in and invites us to rethink the way individual and collective identities are created in order to prevent violence in its direct, structural, or cultural form. Using historical and current examples, the thesis discusses the advantages of a cooperative social structure and the integrative roles the law and the state can play.