Author: Subrata Mukherjee
Sushila Ramaswamy/
Publisher: Sage Publications
Year: 2000
Language: English
Pages: 464
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0761994653
Description
While the concept of socialism is as old as civilization itself, its many variations make it difficult to define. Common to all strands of socialism is a commitment to equality, and none-exploitive relationships and socialized humanity. Beyond these commonalities, socialists differ, and this is clearly brought out in this book.
However, socialism, like democracy as we understand it, is essentially a modern concept. It arose first as critique of rampant commercialization and then as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution which radically changed human societies and lives. This book provides a detailed and critical account of the dominant schools and theorists of socialism.
They discuss all the major schools of socialism-Marxism, Anarchism, Guild Socialism, Syndicalism, Fabianism and Social Democracy-with special emphasis on important theoreticians like Saint Simon, Marx and Engels, Lassalle, Bernstein, Luxemburg, Cole and Gramsci.
The authors describe contemporary developments and analyze the varied controversies within socialism, such as the tensions between egalitarianism and efficiency, the role of the market and the importance of planning, and reforms vs. revolution. In the light of feminist interpretations, they critically assess the views of socialists in espousing and furthering the cause of women. Most importantly, the authors explain the recent collapse of communism and the disarray in which democratic socialism finds itself, and provide pointers to the future of the socialist discourse.
Though socialism as an alternative to capitalism appears to have failed, its importance both as a critique and as a humanizing tendency in the form of social democracy continues to be an integral part of the modern political and social process. This lucid and comprehensive book will be of considerable interest to those in the fields of social and political theory, political science, history, economics, sociology and philosophy. It will also serve as text for students of sociology and political science.
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Precursors
Early Socialists
Nineteenth Century Marxists
Social Democrats
Twentieth Century Marxists
Unconventional Marxists
References
Index
About the Authors