Economic reconstruction is a process for creating a proactive vision of economic change. The most basic idea is that problems in the

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

, such as

deindustrialization Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. There are different interpre ...

, environmental decay,

outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

, industrial incompetence,

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

and addiction to a

permanent war economy Military Keynesianism is an economic policy based on the position that government should raise military spending to boost economic growth. It is a Stimulus (economics), fiscal stimulus policy as advocated by John Maynard Keynes. But where Keynes ad ...

are based on the ''design'' and ''organization'' of economic institutions. Economic reconstruction builds on the ideas of various

institutional economists Institutional economics focuses on understanding the role of the evolutionary process and the role of institutions in shaping economic behavior. Its original focus lay in Thorstein Veblen's instinct-oriented dichotomy between technology on the on ...

and thinkers whose work both critiques existing economic institutions and suggests modes of organizing society differently (cf. Veblen, 1998). Economic reconstruction, however, places much more emphasis on the idea of alternative plans and alternative organization. The need for reconstruction occurs as fundamental problems plague the contemporary organization of the economic, political, and even "oppositional" spheres, such as the contemporary organization of

social movement A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may ...

s. These spheres each tend to support short-term solutions that do not leave in their wake the organization of resources and power in a way that is responsive to citizen needs.

Power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

and critical alternatives are not linked. In contrast to this state of affairs, economic reconstruction supports the creation of new institutions and the redesign of old ones. The basic idea is to create a new way to organize the economy and society so that institutions work for, rather than against, peoples' interests and needs.

History

The first generation of economic reconstructionists included

Thorstein Veblen Thorstein Bunde Veblen (July 30, 1857 – August 3, 1929) was a Norwegian-American economist and sociologist who, during his lifetime, emerged as a well-known critic of capitalism. In his best-known book, ''The Theory of the Leisure Class'' ...

and

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...

. The second generation included

Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a wr ...

. The third generation included

Seymour Melman Seymour Melman (December 30, 1917 – December 16, 2004) was an American professor emeritus of industrial engineering and operations research at Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. He wrote extensively f ...

Percival Goodman Percival Goodman (January 13, 1904 – October 11, 1989) was an American urban theorist and architect who designed more than 50 synagogues between 1948 and 1983. He has been called the "leading theorist" of modern synagogue design, Philip N ...

and

Paul Goodman Paul Goodman (1911–1972) was an American writer and public intellectual best known for his 1960s works of social criticism. Goodman was prolific across numerous literary genres and non-fiction topics, including the arts, civil rights, decen ...

. Key reconstructionists today include

Barry Commoner Barry Commoner (May 28, 1917 – September 30, 2012) was an American cellular biologist, college professor, and politician. He was a leading ecologist and among the founders of the modern environmental movement. He was the director of the ...

Gar Alperovitz Gar Alperovitz (born May 5, 1936) is an American historian and political economist. Alperovitz served as a fellow of King's College, Cambridge; a founding fellow of the Harvard Institute of Politics; a founding Fellow at the Institute for Policy ...

and

Marcus Raskin Marcus Goodman Raskin (April 30, 1934 – December 24, 2017) was an American progressive social critic, political activist, author, and philosopher. He was the co-founder, with Richard Barnet, of the progressive think tank the Institute for Poli ...

. Key figures whose work informs the critique of contemporary society found in the work of economic reconstructionists include

Stanley Aronowitz Stanley Aronowitz (January 6, 1933 – August 16, 2021) was a professor of sociology, cultural studies, and urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He was also a veteran political activist and cultural critic, an advocate for organized labo ...

(in his writings about social movements, the state, universities and culture),

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

in his writings about anarchist cooperatives and democracy, and

John Kenneth Galbraith John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), also known as Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through t ...

(in his writings about the economy and economists). Another important figure is

Simone Weil Simone Adolphine Weil ( , ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Over 2,500 scholarly works have been published about her, including close analyses and readings of her work, since 1995. ...

whose writings about problems or limits attached to militarism, social science atomization, Marxism, the economy and political parties all resonate with an economic reconstruction agenda.

Currents

Advocates of economic reconstruction advocate fundamental change related to key social problems related to environmental decay,

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

, parasitic

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...

and depressed living standards based on the social organization of work. In the environment, a key challenge is redesigning "the technosphere" or the ways in which the means of production, transportation and distribution are designed on a relatively unsustainable basis. When it comes to militarism, the key challenge is to support a demilitarized society through

economic conversion Economic conversion, defence conversion, or arms conversion, is a technical, economic and political process for moving from military to civilian markets. Economic conversion takes place on several levels and can be applied to different organiza ...

disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as n ...

, alternative security, military budget reductions and related social innovations. When it comes to unemployment and depressed living standards, a key challenge is to promote economic democracy, through concrete institutions and actions such as cooperatives, worker participation and control, employee ownership plans, socially responsible firms, community procurement, and various initiatives to organize the economy on a decentralized basis. In many cases, federations among local cooperatives or networks of such firms may prove essential to move beyond the problem of "economic democracy in one firm." Economic reconstruction also extends to the ways in which housing or communities and media are organized. By reducing dependency on the automobile, by linking work and residence, we can limit the problems creating by congestion, pollution and commuting (particularly those problems based on petroleum based automobile transportation. Some may argue that economic reconstruction can be reduced to

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

economic democracy Economic democracy is a socioeconomic philosophy that proposes to shift decision-making power from corporate managers and corporate shareholders to a larger group of public stakeholders that includes workers, customers, suppliers, neighbour ...

itself or perhaps principles found in various anarchist or radical writings. The problem, however, is that many of these plans lack operational details related to how alternative institutions would actually be designed. These details are essential for creating operational plans and actions. In addition, economic reconstruction is not limited to a specific challenge such as capitalism, but must also address other challenges, i.e. militarism, environmental decay, the sexual and ethnic division of labor, etc. A goal of economic reconstruction is to show the need for multiple, yet integrated solutions to societal breakdown.Feldman, 2007; Raskin, 1986.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

* Gar Alperovitz, ''America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy '' (Hoboken, New Jersey: J. Wiley, 2005). * Barry Commoner, ''Making Peace with the Planet'' (New York: Random House, 1990). * Jonathan Michael Feldman, "From the From Warfare State to 'Shadow State': Militarism, Economic Depletion and Reconstruction," ''Social Text'', 91, Volume 25, Number 22 Summer, 2007: 143–168. * Paul Goodman, '' Utopian Essays and Practical Proposals'' (New York: Random House, 1962). *

and

, '' Communitas: Means of Livelihood and Ways of Life'' (New York: Vintage Books, 1960). *,Mark Luccarelli, ''Lewis Mumford and the ecological region: the politics of planning'' (New York: Guilford, 1995). * Donald Markwell, ''John Maynard Keynes and International Relations: Economic Paths to War and Peace'' (Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). * Marcus G. Raskin, ''The Common Good: Its Politics, Policies and Philosophy'' (New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986). * Thorstein Veblen, “A Policy of Reconstruction,” in ''Essays In Our Changing Order'' (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction, 1998): 391–398.

External links

Seymour Melman Website
Archive of Related Writings
Economic Reconstruction Website
Archive of Related Writings
Gar Alperovitz Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Economic Reconstruction Economic development