ABSTRACT

Originally published in 1985, Retrieving Democracy offers a thorough and systematic answer to the familiar objection that genuine democracy is utopian. The book outlines an imaginary, yet imaginable, society that would be non-racist, non-sexist, and sufficiently classless to support true civic equality. Moving beyond previous discussions of re-industrialization and economic democracy, the book proposes the social control of corporations; a democratic division of labour that would maximize equality of citizenship rather than merely the production of commodities; the democratization of trade unions; the equalization of wages and job opportunities and the insulation of electoral politics from the power of money.

part 1|25 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|9 pages

Social Equality and Political Equality

chapter 2|13 pages

Pseudodemocracy

part 2|140 pages

Social Equality

chapter 4|26 pages

Constrained Inequality

chapter 5|37 pages

The Democratic Division of Labor

chapter 6|21 pages

Socialization of the Means of Production

chapter 7|28 pages

Planning and Accumulation

part 3|70 pages

Political Equality

chapter 8|6 pages

What is Political Equality?

chapter 9|27 pages

Participation and Representation

chapter 10|34 pages

The Rights of Equals

part 4|37 pages

Conclusion

chapter 12|5 pages

The Pursuit of Equality