INTRODUCTION

The project of post-industrial socialism With the exception of the ‘liberalised markets’ approach mentioned above, there does appear to be one general theme around which these elements of the Left can still unite, the idea that ‘the economic system is not a holy of holies but a testing ground’ and that a key to socialist strategy should be an attempt ‘to find out how much strain the economic system can be made to take in directions that might benefit social needs’ (Habermas 1990:18). The impetus behind the operationalisation of this concept of redrawing the boundaries of economic rationality (Gorz 1989a) lies in a Leftist engagement with radical democracy and normative values. For Habermas, the engagement with the discourses of radical democracy can be used as a mechanism which engenders greater solidarity. In other words, a limitation of economic rationality will not in itself fashion a socialised economy in a deterministic manner but it could be part of a process in which democratic dialogue over the extent of economic mechanisms could lead to a restraint in their operation. Simultaneously, the social process of defining boundaries for market operations entails opening up new spheres for co-operative action in civil society (Keane 1988) or the lifeworld which, in itself, has been imbued with solidaristic values (Habermas 1990). However, this kind of project entails appropriate spaces and opportunities being created in which dialogue can take place, and in turn this requires the reversal of central mechanisms of advanced capitalist reproduction. In this context Anderson notes the importance of two potentially compatible developments-a reduction in working hours and the provision of some form of guaranteed income (Anderson 1994:19).