Erik Olin Wright

Tulojen ja vallan kasvava eriarvoisuus sekä finanssialan mullistukset ovat tehneet hillittömän kapitalismin vaihtoehtojen etsimisestä yhä tärkeämpää. Silti vasemmisto on vetäytynyt maailmanlaajuisesti olettaen, että liberaali kapitalismi on ainoa vaihtoehto. Erik Olin Wrightin Todelliset utopiat on kattava hyökkäys nykyajan yhteiskuntateorian passiivisuutta vastaan. Se perustuu tekijänsä elinikäiseen työhön, jossa hän on analysoinut kehittyneen maailman luokkajärjestelmää sekä tutkinut siirtymistä kohti sosialistista vaihtoehtoa. Todelliset utopiat pyrkii palauttamaan sosiaalisen ulottuvuuden sosialismiin ja luomaan perustan konkreettisille, emansipatorisille vaihtoehdoille kapitalistiselle järjestelmälle. Kirja antaa realistisia mutta samanaikaisesti vallankumouksellisia ideoita yhteiskunnallisia muutoksia koskevaan keskusteluun, jota on viime vuosina vaivannut vaihtoehdottomuus ja näköalattomuus. Tiukka ja mukaansatempaava teos on 2000-luvun yhteiskunnallisen ajattelun raamattu.

Erik Olin Wright taught the course Sociological Marxism for nearly three decades. Generations of influential thinkers passed through the course and it took on an almost mythic stature on the left and throughout the discipline of sociology. Though it evolved over time the guiding principles remained the same. Claims about how the world works ought to be testable. Values can guide research but must never cloud scientific conclusions. And if you really understand an idea or phenomenon then you should be able to explain it simple language. Sociological Marxism guides readers through the most convincing theories explaining many of the most confounding political, social and economic questions. Exploring topics ranging from the state to gender, and exploitation to measurements of well-being, this book makes a social scientist out of its reader in a single pass.Praise for Erik Olin Wright"His ideas captured the imagination of audiences, intellectuals and activists across the globe . Wright reinvented the meaning of socialism."-New York Times"Erik will be remembered as the most important theorist of class in the second half of the twentieth century, and the greatest Marxist sociologist of his time."-Vivek Chibber, author of Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital

The idea of "class interest"-the set of social objectives of a given class-has been well explored in socialist thought. But what about the ability to realize these objectives? The complex tension between class interest and achieving class objectives is the guiding theme of Class, Crisis and the State.The book is composed of three lucid and bracing essays, focused on a trio of the most contentious problems of Marxist theory. The first chapter advances a new class map of the United States today, including a rigorous yet dynamic redefinition of the working class. The second part focuses on classical theories of economic crisis in the West, such as underconsumption and financial instability, and their relevance to contemporary economic downturns. A concluding chapter examines the problems of leftist governments coming to power in capitalist states. As leftist forces regroup and ready themselves for new electoral challenges around the world, Class, Crisis and the State remains essential reading.

In American Society: How It Really Works, esteemed scholars Erik Olin Wright and Joel Rogers pull back the curtain on the complex inner workings of contemporary American society, revealing the ways in which it does—and doesn’t—support its core values. They also explore possible solutions to America’s most pressing social and economic problems, including poverty, health disparities, and the climate crisis. In addition to featuring the most recent data , this highly anticipated Third Edition offers new discussions of the Trump presidency, the COVID-19 pandemic, the decline of democracy, and the climate crisis.

Mikä kapitalismissa on vialla ja miten voimme muuttaa sitä?Kapitalismi muuttaa maailmaa ja lisää tuottavuutta, mutta se aiheuttaa myös inhimillistä kärsimystä. Voiko kapitalismia muuttaa? Kyllä! Sosiologi Erik Olin Wright ehdottaa, että ratkaisu löytyy yhteisistä arvo-akseleista, joita ovat tasa-arvo ja oikeudenmukaisuus, demokratia ja vapaus, yhteisöllisyys ja solidaarisuus. Ne tarjoavat perustan kapitalismin kritiikille ja auttavat löytämään polkuja kohti sosialistista ja demokraattista yhteiskuntaa.Tässä tyylikkäässä kirjassa Erik Olin Wright tiivistää vuosikymmenten intellektuaalisen työnsä kompaktiksi manifestiksi, joka analysoi antikapitalismin eri muotoja ja puntaroi erilaisia strategisia tapoja luoda kukoistava yhteiskunta. Kuinka olla antikapitalisti 2000-luvulla on toistaiseksi paras argumentti sosialismin puolesta. Kirja on oman ajattelun opas, joka haastaa kangistuneita näkemyksiä yhteiskunnasta. Toisenlainen maailma on täällä jo tänään.Erik Olin Wright (1947-2019) oli sosiologian professori Wisconsin-Madison yliopistossa.

Erik Olin Wright, one of the most important sociologists of his time, takes readers along on his intimate and brave journey toward death, and asks the big questions about human mortality.From the renowned Marxist sociologist and educator Erik Olin Wright, Stardust to Stardust is a curated collection of writings from the months of his treatment and hospitalization for acute myeloid leukemia. This combination of personal narrative with Wright’s analytical perspective results in a deeply complex, philosophical meditation on death and the meaning of existence.

Questions of class, power and distribution have reemerged as central concerns in the public discourse. When we talk about class, we don't always know what is meant. Is class about income or affect or the ownership of the means of production? Perhaps it is about authority or autonomy? But what happens when, as is often the case in complex advanced economies, people can occupy social and economic roles that seem to indicate membership in more than one class? And what does this mean for the supposed relationship between class and potential political capacity and affinity?In Classes, Erik Olin Wright, the greatest American Marxist sociologists, rises to the twofold challenge of both clarifying the abstract, structural account of class implicit in Marx, and of applying and refining the account in the light of contemporary developments in advanced capitalist societies. What Wright calls "contradictory class locations" can make the class landscape appear much more complex than the simple model presented in Marx. Despite this complexity, common interests and therefore political alliances can still be found. In a society, like the US, characterized by extreme inequality, Classes provides not just a useful descriptive account of the operation of class but also the tools to understand the interplay of class interests and political (re)alignment.

Kapitalismen har revolusjonert verden og teknologien vi har rundt oss, men ikke uten enorme menneskelige omkostninger. Verdier som rettferdighet, demokrati og frihet skyves til side i et system der noen få eier nesten alt mens millioner har nesten ingenting. Samtidig er klima og natur på bristepunktet. Men alternativer finnes, mener sosiolog Erik Olin Wright. I denne boken argumenterer han for hvordan vi kan gjøre motstand og peker på veier videre. Antikapitalisme. Strategier og muligheter i det 21. århundret er et kraftfullt opprop for demokrati og sosialisme. En annen verden er mulig. ... gjør det enklere å forestille seg det utenkelige: kapitalismens slutt. Aftonbladet. Fortjener å bli lest av mange. The Guardian. Selvfølgelig er en annen verden mulig. Denne boken hjelper deg i gang! Sara Bell, leder Fagforbundet Bergen Hans tanker fanget forestillingsevnen hos tilhørere, intellektuelle og aktivister over hele verden. Wright gjenoppfant meningen med sosialisme. New York Times Erik vil bli husket som den viktigste klasseteoretikeren i andre halvdel av det 20. århundret, og den fremste marxistiske sosiologen i sin tid. Vivek Chibber, professor i sosiologi ved NYU Et akutt og kraftig innlegg for sosialisme. Dazed Erik Olin Wright (1947-2019) var en ledende amerikansk marxistisk sosiolog og forfatter av blant annet Envisioning Real Utopias (2010) og Understanding Class (2015). Antikapitalisme. Strategier og muligheter i det 21. århundret ble skrevet like før han døde.

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.

Erik Olin Wright, one of the most important sociologists of his time, takes us along on his intimate and brave journey toward death, and asks the big questions about human mortality. Human life is a wild, extraordinary phenomenon: elements are brewed in the cen-ter of stars and exploding supernova, spewed across the universe; they eventually clumped into a minor planet around a modest star; then after some billions of years this "stardust" became complex molecules with self-replicating capacities that we call life. More billions of years pass and these self-replicating molecules join together into more complex forms, evolve into organisms which gain awareness and then consciousness, and finally, eventually, consciousness of their consciousness. Stardust turned into conscious living matter aware of its own existence. And with that comes consciousness of mortality. . . . That I, as a conscious being will cease to exist pales in significance to the fact that I exist at all. I don 't find that this robs my existence of meaning; it 's what makes infusing life with meaning possible.

»Erik Olin Wright förtjänar en bred läsekrets. På drygt etthundrafemtio sidor belyser han kapitalismens brister, visar vad som skulle kunna förbättras och ger förslag till praktiska åtgärder. Boken har en ovanlig potential att nå både de övertygade och de skeptiska. Du kan ge den i present till en klentrogen morbror eller en militant kusin: här finns någonting både för den läsare som måste övertygas om att en annan värld är möjlig och den som behöver tankeverktyg för att skapa denna nya värld. Wright skriver med en ovanlig förening av klarsyn, djup och värme. Han tar sig generöst an de olika sidornas argument. Han erkänner komplexitet och svårigheter. Han utstrålar en demokratisk respekt för sina läsare. Demokrati är i själva verket kärnan i hans socialism.» /Ben Tarnoff i The GuardianVad dagens vänster behöver, påpekar Erik Olin Wright i "Antikapitalism. Strategier och möjligheter i det tjugoförsta århundradet", är ett förhållningssätt som undviker både önsketänkandet och upp­given­heten. Kapitalismen är en tillväxtmaskin men skapar samtidigt ojämlikhet och otrygghet och den förmår heller inte värna om klimatet eller naturen. Men revolutionära sam­hälls­omvandlingar har en tendens att få oavsedda konsekvenser som omintetgör deras eventuella landvinningar. Slutsatsen av detta bör emellertid inte bli att radikala förändringar är ogenomförbara och kapitalismen ofrånkomlig, utan bara att motståndet mot den rådande ordningen måste utformas annorlunda.Som Wright ser det bör kapitalismen på samma gång angripas både uppifrån, genom statlig styrning, och nerifrån, genom ekonomisk självorganisering på basplanet. Det handlar om en sorts återupprättad socialistisk reformism av det visionära slaget och det är de tänkbara principerna för en sådan Wright diskuterar i sin koncisa framställning. Solidaritet och rättvisa är centrala värden i sammanhanget. Wright frågar sig också vad i den rika men spretiga marxistiska tanketraditionen en sådan reformism skulle kunna använda sig av och vad den behöver lägga åt sidan.Klassperspektivet är viktigt, menar Wright, men ännu viktigare är moraliska värden som kan omfattas av alla. Socialismen bör inte minst vara ett etiskt projekt.Erik Olin Wright (1947–2019) var en framstående amerikansk marxistisk sociolog, författare till bland annat "Envisioning Real Utopias" (2010) och "Understanding Class" (2015). "Antikapitalism" blev klar en kort tid före hans död.

Democracy means rule by the people, but in practice even the most robust democracies delegate most rule making to a political class The gap between the public and its representatives might seem unbridgeable in the modern world, but Legislature by Lot examines an inspiring solution: a legislature chosen through "sortition" - the random selection of lay citizens. It's a concept that has come to the attention of democratic reformers across the globe. Proposals for such bodies are being debated in Australia, Belgium, Iceland, the United Kingdom, and many other countries. Sortition promises to reduce corruption and create a truly representative legislature in one fell swoop. In Legislature by Lot, John Gastil and Erik Olin Wright make the case for pairing a sortition body with an elected chamber within a bicameral legislature. Gastil is a leading deliberative democracy scholar, and Wright a distinguished sociologist and editor of the Real Utopias series, of which this is a part. In this volume, they bring together critics and advocates of sortition who have studied ancient Athens, deliberative polling, political theory, social movements, and civic innovation. Without obscuring its limitations, the contributors offer a wide variety of ideas for how to implement sortition and examine its potential for reshaping modern politics. Legislature by Lot includes sixteen essays that respond to Gastil and Wright's detailed proposal. Essays comparing sortition to contemporary reforms see it as a dramatic extension of deliberative "minipublics," which gather random samples of citizens to weigh public policy dilemmas without being empowered to enact legislation. Another set of essays explores the democratic principles underlying sortition and elections and considers, for example, how a sortition body holds itself accountable to a public that did not elect it. The third set of essays considers alternative paths to democratic reform, which limit the powers of a sortition chamber or more quickly establish a pure sortition body. With contributions by Arash Abizadeh, Tom Arnold, Terrill Bouricius, Deven Burks, Lyn Carson, Dimitri Courant, Donatella della Porta, David M. Farrell, Andrea Felicetti, James S. Fishkin, Brett Hennig, Vincent Jacquet, Raphaël Kies, Tom Malleson, Jane Mansbridge, Christoph Niessen, David Owen, John Pitseys, Min Reuchamps, Yves Sintomer, Graham Smith, Jane Suiter, and Pierre-Étienne Vandamme.

Democracy means rule by the people, but in practice even the most robust democracies delegate most rule making to a political class. The gap between the public and its public officials might seem unbridgeable in the modern world, but Legislature by Lot presents a close examination of an inspiring solution: a legislature chosen through "sortition"-the random selection of lay citizens. It's a concept that has come to the attention of democratic reformers across the globe. Proposals for such bodies are being debated in Australia, Belgium, Iceland, the United Kingdom, and many other countries. Sortition promises to reduce corruption and create a truly representative legislature in one fell swoop. In Legislature by Lot, John Gastil and Erik Olin Wright make the case for pairing a sortition body with an elected chamber within a bicameral legislature. Gastil is a leading deliberative democracy scholar, and Wright a distinguished sociologist and series editor of the Real Utopias books, of which this is a part. In this volume, they bring together critics and advocates of sortition who studied ancient Athens, deliberative polling, political theory, social movements, and civic innovation. The constellation of voices in this book lays out a wide variety of ideas for how to implement sortition, without obscuring its limitations, and examine its potential for reshaping modern politics.Legislature by Lot includes sixteen essays that respond to Gastil and Wright's detailed proposal. Essays comparing it to contemporary reforms see it as a dramatic extension of deliberative "minipublics," which gather random samples of citizens to weight public policy dilemmas without being empowered to enact legislation. Another set of essays explores the democratic principles underlying sortition and elections and considers, for example, how a sortition body holds itself accountable to a public that did not elect it. The third set of essays consider alternative paths to democratic reform, which limit the powers of a sortition chamber or more quickly establish a pure sortition body.

Arkiv. Tidskrift för samhällsanalys samlar samhällsvetenskaplig och historisk forskning från Sverige och världen. Alla artiklar finns fritt tillgängliga, gratis att läsa och ladda ned, på www.tidskriftenarkiv.se. För dem som hellre vill läsa mellan två pärmar tillhandahåller vi den här tryckta utgåvan. Numret kommer även att släppas som e-bok anpassad till läsplattor (ISBN: 9789179242909). I detta nummer: Klassikeravdelning: Ekonomin som inrättad process av Karl Polanyi Gunnar Olofsson & Anders Hylmö, ”Inledning” Karl Polanyi, Conrad M. Arensberg & Harry W. Pearson, ”Ekonomins plats i samhället” Karl Polanyi, ”Ekonomin som inrättad process” Erik Olin Wright, ”Den kapitalistiska staten och möjligheten till socialism” Lena Gunnarsson, ”Natur, kärlek och den manliga maktens gränser” Risto Alapuro, ”Demonstrationer i Finland” Recensionsavdelning: Lovisa Broström, ”Den osynliga motparten” Anders Björnsson, ”Inblickar i revolutionärernas Europa” Christian Andersson, ”Musik och politik” Anders Björnsson, ”En solitär på barrikaden” Ingvar Johansson, ”Vänsterutilitaristens självbiografi”

What would a viable free and democratic society look like? Poverty, exploitation, instability, hierarchy, subordination, environmental exhaustion, radical inequalities of wealth and power-it is not difficult to list capitalism's myriad injustices. But is there a preferable and workable alternative?Alternatives to Capitalism: Proposals for a Democratic Economy presents a debate between two such possibilities: Robin Hahnel's "participatory economics" and Erik Olin Wright's "real utopian" socialism. It is a detailed and rewarding discussion that illuminates a range of issues and dilemmas of crucial importance to any serious effort to build a better world.

Few ideas are more contested today than "class." Some have declared its death, while others insist on its centrality to contemporary capitalism. It is said its relevance is limited to explaining individuals' economic conditions and opportunities, while at the same time argued that it is a structural feature of macro-power relations. In Understanding Class, leading left sociologist Erik Olin Wright interrogates the divergent meanings of this fundamental concept in order to develop a more integrated framework of class analysis. Beginning with the treatment of class in Marx and Weber, proceeding through the writings of Charles Tilly, Thomas Piketty, Guy Standing, and others, and finally examining how class struggle and class compromise play out in contemporary society, Understanding Class provides a compelling view of how to think about the complexity of class in the world today.

Rising inequality of income and power, along with recent convulsions in the finance sector, have made the search for alternatives to unbridled capitalism more urgent than ever. Yet few are attempting this task-most analysts argue that any attempt to rethink our social and economic relations is utopian. Erik Olin Wright's major new work is a comprehensive assault on the quietism of contemporary social theory. A systematic reconstruction of the core values and feasible goals for Left theorists and political actors, Envisioning Real Utopias lays the foundations for a set of concrete, emancipatory alternatives to the capitalist system. Characteristically rigorous and engaging, this will become a landmark of social thought for the twenty-first century.

This textbook provides students with a lively and penetrating exploration of the concept of class and its relevance for understanding a wide range of issues in contemporary society. Erik Olin Wright treats class as a common explanatory factor and examines three broad themes: class structure, class and gender, and class consciousness. Specific empirical studies include such diverse topics as class variations in the gender division of labour in housework; friendship networks across class boundaries; the American class structure since 1960; and cross-national variations in class consciousness. The author evaluates these studies in the light of expectations within the Marxist tradition of class analysis. This Student Edition of Class Counts thus combines Wright's sophisticated account of central and enduring questions in social theory with practical analyses of detailed social problems.