Social anarchism is the branch of
anarchism
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessaril ...
that sees
individual freedom as interrelated with
mutual aid.
[Suissa, Judith (2001). "Anarchism, Utopias and Philosophy of Education". ''Journal of Philosophy of Education'' 35 (4). pp. 627–646. .] Social anarchist thought emphasizes community and
social equality
Social equality is a state of affairs in which all individuals within a specific society have equal rights, liberties, and status, possibly including civil rights, freedom of expression, autonomy, and equal access to certain public goods and s ...
as complementary to
autonomy
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...
and
personal freedom
Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties m ...
. It attempts to accomplish this balance through
freedom of speech, which is maintained in a
decentralized federalism, with freedom of interaction in thought and
subsidiarity. Subsidiarity is best defined as "that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry" and that "
r every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them", or the slogan "Do not take tools out of people's hands".
Social anarchism has been the dominant form of anarchism.
As a label or term, ''social anarchism'' is used in contrast to ''
individualist anarchism'' to describe the theory that places an emphasis on the
communitarian
Communitarianism is a philosophy that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. Its overriding philosophy is based upon the belief that a person's social identity and personality are largely molded by community relat ...
and
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...
aspects in anarchist theory while also opposing authoritarian forms of communitarianism associated with
groupthink and collective
conformity, favoring a reconciliation between
individuality and
sociality.
Self-determination,
worker's self-management
Workers' self-management, also referred to as labor management and organizational self-management, is a form of organizational management based on self-directed work processes on the part of an organization's workforce. Self-management is a def ...
,
education and
empowerment are all emphasized in social anarchism, while illegitimate authority is removed through inspection and vigilance. A
do-it-yourself
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...
mentality is combined with educational efforts within the social realm.
["Misconceptions of Anarchism"](_blank)
Spunk Library. In Dolgoff, Sam (1986). ''Fragments: A Memoir''. Refract Publications. Social anarchism advocates the conversion and use of a portion of present-day and future
productive private property to be made into
social property that can be used as an alternative to capitalist production and exploitative wage labor.
[Ostergaard, Geoffrey (1991). "Anarchism". ''A Dictionary of Marxist Thought''. Blackwell Publishing. p. 21.][Peacock, Adrian (1999). ''Two Hundred Pharaohs, Five Billion Slaves''. London: Ellipsis.][Goodwin, Barbara (2007). ''Using Political Ideas''. John Wiley & Sons.]
''Social anarchism'' is considered an
umbrella term that mainly refers to the
post-capitalist economic models of
anarcho-communism
Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains resp ...
,
collectivist anarchism
Collectivist anarchism, also called anarchist collectivism and anarcho-collectivism, Buckley, A. M. (2011). ''Anarchism''. Essential Libraryp. 97 "Collectivist anarchism, also called anarcho-collectivism, arose after mutualism." . is an anarchis ...
and sometimes
mutualism. It can also include non-state controlled federated
guild socialist
Guild socialism is a political movement advocating workers' control of industry through the medium of trade-related guilds "in an implied contractual relationship with the public". It originated in the United Kingdom and was at its most influent ...
,
dual power industrial democracy and
economic democracy, or federated
worker cooperatives and
workers' and consumers' councils replacing much of the present
state system whilst retaining basic rights. In addition, it includes the trade union approach of
anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence i ...
, the social struggle strategies of
platformism and
specifism
Platformism is a form of anarchist organization that seeks unity from its participants, having as a defining characteristic the idea that each platformist organization should include only people that are fully in agreement with core group ideas, r ...
and the environmental philosophy of
social ecology Social ecology may refer to:
* Social ecology (academic field), the study of relationships between people and their environment, often the interdependence of people, collectives and institutions
* Social ecology (Bookchin), a theory about the relat ...
. As a term, ''social anarchism'' overlaps with ''
libertarianism
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
'', ''
libertarian socialism''
and ''
left-libertarianism'',
emerging in the late 19th century as a distinction from ''individualist anarchism'' after anarcho-communism replaced collectivist anarchism as the dominant tendency.
Social anarchism has been described as the collectivist or socialist wing of anarchism as well as representing socialist-aligned forms of anarchism, being contrasted with the liberal-socialist wing represented by individualist anarchism.
[Carson, Kevin (2017). "Anarchism and Markets". In Jun, Nathan J. (2017). ''Brill's Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy''. Brill. p. 81. .] Nonetheless, several of those collectivist or communist anarchists have supported their theories on radical individualist grounds,
[ Baginki, Max (May 1907)]
"Stirner: The Ego and His Own"
''Mother Earth
Mother Earth may refer to:
*The Earth goddess in any of the world's mythologies
*Mother goddess
* Mother Nature, a common personification of the Earth and its biosphere as the giver and sustainer of life
Written media and literature
* "Mother Ea ...
'' (2: 3). "Modern Communists are more individualistic than Stirner. To them, not merely religion, morality, family and State are spooks, but property also is no more than a spook, in whose name the individual is enslaved—and how enslaved! ..Communism thus creates a basis for the liberty and Eigenheit of the individual. I am a Communist because I am an Individualist. Fully as heartily the Communists concur with Stirner when he puts the word take in place of demand—that leads to the dissolution of property, to expropriation. Individualism and Communism go hand in hand."; Novatore, Renzo (1924)
"Towards the Creative Nothing"
Gray, Christopher (1974). ''Leaving the Twentieth Century''. p. 88; Black, Bob (2010)
"Nightmares of Reason"
" mmunism is the final fulfillment of individualism. ..The apparent contradiction between individualism and communism rests on a misunderstanding of both. ..Subjectivity is also objective: the individual really is subjective. It is nonsense to speak of "emphatically prioritizing the social over the individual," .. You may as well speak of prioritizing the chicken over the egg. Anarchy is a "method of individualization." It aims to combine the greatest individual development with the greatest communal unity". seeing collectivism or communism as the best social system for the realization of individual freedom.
[ Kropotkin, Peter (1901)]
"Communism and Anarchy"
"Communism is the one which guarantees the greatest amount of individual liberty—provided that the idea that begets the community be Liberty, Anarchy .. Communism guarantees economic freedom better than any other form of association, because it can guarantee wellbeing, even luxury, in return for a few hours of work instead of a day's work."; Truda, Dielo (1926)
"Organisational Platform of the Libertarian Communists"
"This other society will be libertarian communism, in which social solidarity and free individuality find their full expression, and in which these two ideas develop in perfect harmony."
"My Perspectives"
''Willful Disobedience'' (2: 12). "I see the dichotomies made between individualism and communism, individual revolt and class struggle, the struggle against human exploitation and the exploitation of nature as false dichotomies and feel that those who accept them are impoverishing their own critique and struggle."; Brown, L. Susan (2002). ''The Politics of Individualism
''The Politics of Individualism: Liberalism, Liberal Feminism, and Anarchism'' is a 1993 political science book by L. Susan Brown. She begins by noting that liberalism and anarchism seem at times to share common components, but on other occasions ...
''. Black Rose Books; Brown, L. Susan (2 February 2011)
"Does Work Really Work?"
The very idea of an individualist–socialist divide is also contested as individualist anarchism is largely socialistic and influenced each other.
Carl Landauer summarized the difference between individualist and social anarchists by stating that "the communist anarchists also do not acknowledge any right to society to force the individual. They differ from the anarchistic individualists in their belief that men, if freed from coercion, will enter into voluntary associations of a communistic type, while the other wing believes that the free person will prefer a high degree of isolation".
Overview
''
Anarchist socialism
Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (20 ...
'', ''
anarcho-socialism
Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (20 ...
''and ''
socialist anarchism'' are terms used to refer to social anarchism, but this is rejected by most anarchists since they generally consider themselves socialists of the libertarian tradition and are seen as unnecessary and confusing when not used as synonymous for
libertarian or
stateless socialism
Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (20 ...
vis-à-vis
authoritarian
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voti ...
or
state socialism
State socialism is a political and economic ideology within the socialist movement that advocates state ownership of the means of production. This is intended either as a temporary measure, or as a characteristic of socialism in the transition fr ...
. Anarchism has been historically identified with the socialist and anti-capitalist movement, with the main divide being between
anti-market anarchists who support some form of
decentralized economic planning and pro-
market anarchists who support
anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economic system, such as ...
market socialism
Market socialism is a type of economic system involving the public, cooperative, or social ownership of the means of production in the framework of a market economy, or one that contains a mix of worker-owned, nationalized, and privately owned ...
. Those terms are mainly used by anarcho-capitalism theorists and scholars who recognize anarcho-capitalism to differentiate between the two.
[ Ostergaard, Geoffrey (2008). "Anarchism". ''The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought''. Blackwell Publishing. p. 14.] For similar reasons, anarchists also reject categorizations such as ''
left anarchism''
[Thagard, Paul. 2002. ''Coherence in Thought and Action''. MIT Press. p. 153.] and ''
right anarchism'' (
anarcho-capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enforc ...
),
seeing anarchism as a
radical left-wing or far-left ideology.
Anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economic system, such as so ...
is considered a necessary element of anarchism by most anarchists. Arguing against some anarcho-capitalist theorists and scholars who see
individualist anarchism as pro-capitalist, anarchists and scholars have put it in the socialist camp, meaning
anti-statist
Anti-statism is any approach to social, economic or political philosophy that rejects statism. An anti-statist is one who opposes intervention by the state into personal, social and economic affairs. In anarchism, this is characterized by a comp ...
and
libertarian socialism.
In addition,
anarcho-communists
Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains res ...
regard themselves as radical individualists,
seeing anarcho-communism as the best
social system
In sociology, a social system is the patterned network of relationships constituting a coherent whole that exist between individuals, groups, and institutions. It is the formal structure of role and status that can form in a small, stable group. A ...
for the realization of individual freedom.
Anarchism is an individualist philosophy that oppose all forms of authoritarian collectivism, but one which does see the individual and the community as complementary rather than mutually exclusive, with anarcho-communism and social anarchism in particular most rejecting the individualist–collectivist dichotomy. Notwithstanding the name,
collectivist anarchism
Collectivist anarchism, also called anarchist collectivism and anarcho-collectivism, Buckley, A. M. (2011). ''Anarchism''. Essential Libraryp. 97 "Collectivist anarchism, also called anarcho-collectivism, arose after mutualism." . is an anarchis ...
is seen as a blend of
individualism and
collectivism
Collectivism may refer to:
* Bureaucratic collectivism, a theory of class society whichto describe the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin
* Collectivist anarchism, a socialist doctrine in which the workers own and manage the production
* Collectivi ...
. In the United States, ''social anarchism'' may refer to
Murray Bookchin's circle and its
homonymous journal.
To differentiate it from individualist anarchism, anarchists prefer using ''social anarchism'', a term used to characterize certain strides of anarchism vis-à-vis individualist anarchism, rather than seeing the two categories as mutually exclusive or as socialist vis-à-vis capitalism. The former focuses on the social aspect and tends to be more organisational as well as supporting
decentralised
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group.
Conce ...
economic planning
Economic planning is a resource allocation mechanism based on a computational procedure for solving a constrained maximization problem with an iterative process for obtaining its solution. Planning is a mechanism for the allocation of resources b ...
while the latter focuses on the individual aspect and tends to be more anti-organisational as well as supporting
free-market forms of socialism or no specific forms of
anarchist economics
Anarchist economics is the set of theories and practices of economic activity within the political philosophy of anarchism. Many anarchists are anti-authoritarian anti-capitalists, with anarchism usually referred to as a form of libertarian soc ...
. This led to
anarchism without adjectives
Anarchism without adjectives (from the Spanish '), in the words of historian George Richard Esenwein, "referred to an unhyphenated form of anarchism, that is, a doctrine without any qualifying labels such as communist, collectivist, mutualist, ...
. The
mutualist theory of
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
is seen as the middle or third category between social anarchism and individualist anarchism, although it is often considered part of social anarchism and sometimes part of individualist anarchism.
Social anarchism sees "
individual freedom as conceptually connected with
social equality
Social equality is a state of affairs in which all individuals within a specific society have equal rights, liberties, and status, possibly including civil rights, freedom of expression, autonomy, and equal access to certain public goods and s ...
and emphasize community and
mutual aid".
It sees
private property
Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or c ...
as a source of
social inequality
Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and creates gender c ...
,
positing instead a future society in which private property does not exist and is replaced by
reciprocity and
egalitarian society.
As a term, ''social anarchism'' is used to describe tendencies within anarchism that have an emphasis on the
communitarian
Communitarianism is a philosophy that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. Its overriding philosophy is based upon the belief that a person's social identity and personality are largely molded by community relat ...
and
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...
aspects of anarchist theory and practice, aiming for the "
free association of people living together and cooperating in free communities".
Bookchin identifies social anarchism with the left, by which he refers to the "great tradition of human solidarity and a belief in the potentiality for humanness,
..the
internationalism and
confederalism
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
, the democratic spirit,
antimilitarism
Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine that disputes (especia ...
, and the rational
secularism
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations.
Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...
".
Criticism
Andrew Morriss writing for ''The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism'' argued that "By rejecting any meaningful role for market forces and private property, ... social anarchists leave unresolved the mechanism for coordinating the economic activity necessary to sustain human existence and generally retreat into evocations of the need for community."
See also
*
Social anarchists
Social anarchism is the branch of anarchism that sees individual freedom as interrelated with mutual aid.Suissa, Judith (2001). "Anarchism, Utopias and Philosophy of Education". ''Journal of Philosophy of Education'' 35 (4). pp. 627–646. . S ...
(category)
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Social Anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchist schools of thought
Anarcho-communism
Anarcho-syndicalism
Communalism
Communism
Left-libertarianism
Libertarian socialism
Mutualism (economic theory)
Platformism
Social ecology (Bookchin)
Socialism
Types of socialism
Syndicalism