Well if he thinks that economic degrowth is essential to addressing climate change, then this fundamentally contradicts the imperatives of capital even as you characterise it. In other words, capital is *not* perfectly capable of organising decarbonization.
November 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Well if he thinks that economic degrowth is essential to addressing climate change, then this fundamentally contradicts the imperatives of capital even as you characterise it. In other words, capital is *not* perfectly capable of organising decarbonization.
Hickel doesn't believe a Green New Deal by itself would adequately address the climate crisis.
www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2020/10...
www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2020/10...
A response to Pollin and Chomsky: We need a Green New Deal without growth — Jason Hickel
Robert Pollin and Noam Chomsky have a new book out, Climate Crisis and the Green New Deal. It’s an important contribution to the emerging GND literature, from two thinkers I respect. But in re...
www.jasonhickel.org
November 11, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Hickel doesn't believe a Green New Deal by itself would adequately address the climate crisis.
www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2020/10...
www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2020/10...
Owen Jones wrote about this for Drop Site News and was promptly sued (apparently the lawyer involved is former Director of UK Lawyers for Israel). Jones and Drop Site are fundraising to defend against the lawsuit, and they raised a lot in only a couple of days.
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Owen Jones wrote about this for Drop Site News and was promptly sued (apparently the lawyer involved is former Director of UK Lawyers for Israel). Jones and Drop Site are fundraising to defend against the lawsuit, and they raised a lot in only a couple of days.
- keeping the populist right out of power doesn't lie in protecting an outdated political paradigm, but critically reflecting on whether one's own class-based perspective is really equal to the moment. /End
November 9, 2025 at 3:52 AM
- keeping the populist right out of power doesn't lie in protecting an outdated political paradigm, but critically reflecting on whether one's own class-based perspective is really equal to the moment. /End
-if the NMC hasn't been negatively affected, indeed benefited from it, it is because they belong to cosmopolitan networks which are less bounded spatially or temporally than other classes;
- the reason people don't have access to these networks isn't racism, but lack of resources../3
- the reason people don't have access to these networks isn't racism, but lack of resources../3
November 9, 2025 at 3:52 AM
-if the NMC hasn't been negatively affected, indeed benefited from it, it is because they belong to cosmopolitan networks which are less bounded spatially or temporally than other classes;
- the reason people don't have access to these networks isn't racism, but lack of resources../3
- the reason people don't have access to these networks isn't racism, but lack of resources../3
I think time would be better spent acknowledging:
- while NMC are the winners out of deregulation inc mass immigration, there have been far too many losers
- radical transformation of local communities over the last few decades have affected people who have had almost no say in the matter../2
- while NMC are the winners out of deregulation inc mass immigration, there have been far too many losers
- radical transformation of local communities over the last few decades have affected people who have had almost no say in the matter../2
November 9, 2025 at 3:52 AM
I think time would be better spent acknowledging:
- while NMC are the winners out of deregulation inc mass immigration, there have been far too many losers
- radical transformation of local communities over the last few decades have affected people who have had almost no say in the matter../2
- while NMC are the winners out of deregulation inc mass immigration, there have been far too many losers
- radical transformation of local communities over the last few decades have affected people who have had almost no say in the matter../2
This kind of regulatory liberalism is something I see Mamdani attempting. It differs from the failing liberalism of the Democratic Party, but also from the state socialism the media has branded him with, and even the social-corporatist paradigm which dominated the post-war era. /End
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
This kind of regulatory liberalism is something I see Mamdani attempting. It differs from the failing liberalism of the Democratic Party, but also from the state socialism the media has branded him with, and even the social-corporatist paradigm which dominated the post-war era. /End
It will not be a form of social planning, but instead resemble what Foucault called "governmentality"; nudging social processes through incentives and disincentives, while recognising the dynamism and complexity of society and its priority over the state. /8
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
It will not be a form of social planning, but instead resemble what Foucault called "governmentality"; nudging social processes through incentives and disincentives, while recognising the dynamism and complexity of society and its priority over the state. /8
So what comes next? Reckwitz thinks it will be a form of "regulatory liberalism", which will seek to employ government and civic regulations to address socio-economic inequality and prevent cultural disintegration. But it will not abandon a market economy, liberal democracy or multiculturalism./7
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
So what comes next? Reckwitz thinks it will be a form of "regulatory liberalism", which will seek to employ government and civic regulations to address socio-economic inequality and prevent cultural disintegration. But it will not abandon a market economy, liberal democracy or multiculturalism./7
But Reckwitz thinks this populism will fail: as a paradigm, it is antagonistic rather than integrative, and its "solutions" seem ill suited to dealing w/ globalisation, post-industrialisation & cultural heterogeneity (as Trump is finding out). /6
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
But Reckwitz thinks this populism will fail: as a paradigm, it is antagonistic rather than integrative, and its "solutions" seem ill suited to dealing w/ globalisation, post-industrialisation & cultural heterogeneity (as Trump is finding out). /6
Finally it results in a legitimation crisis of liberal democracy, in which international organizations and economic imperatives usurp the power of political representatives to act. Rightwing populism is a reaction to these crises: proposing economic & cultural nationalism & illiberal democracy. /5
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Finally it results in a legitimation crisis of liberal democracy, in which international organizations and economic imperatives usurp the power of political representatives to act. Rightwing populism is a reaction to these crises: proposing economic & cultural nationalism & illiberal democracy. /5
This liberalism leads to polarisation from growing inequality & unwillingness to regulate the transition to post-industrial society: a new middle class (Calhoun's cosmopolitan elite, cf. Bluesky) succeeding while a squeezed old middle class loses its status & a precarious class gets left behind. /4
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
This liberalism leads to polarisation from growing inequality & unwillingness to regulate the transition to post-industrial society: a new middle class (Calhoun's cosmopolitan elite, cf. Bluesky) succeeding while a squeezed old middle class loses its status & a precarious class gets left behind. /4
& cultural deregulation, by which he means an expansion of subjective legal rights and championing of ind identities at the expense of "the web of norms that define our reciprocal obligations,” which are now seen as “nothing more than limitations on… opportunities for individual growth.” /3
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
& cultural deregulation, by which he means an expansion of subjective legal rights and championing of ind identities at the expense of "the web of norms that define our reciprocal obligations,” which are now seen as “nothing more than limitations on… opportunities for individual growth.” /3
Instead, Mamdani probably is the future of liberalism, in the sense proposed by sociologist Andreas Reckwitz. In "End of Illusions", Reckwitz argues that liberalism in its current form ("apertistic" or open liberalism) is in crisis, as a combination of socio-economic deregulation (neoliberalism)../2
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Instead, Mamdani probably is the future of liberalism, in the sense proposed by sociologist Andreas Reckwitz. In "End of Illusions", Reckwitz argues that liberalism in its current form ("apertistic" or open liberalism) is in crisis, as a combination of socio-economic deregulation (neoliberalism)../2
In statist socialism, the democratically controlled state actively intervenes in the economy via planning, regulation & provision of public goods. In social capitalism, civil society actors exercise control over capitalist power via worker councils, stakeholder governance, consumer boycotts etc./End
November 4, 2025 at 2:37 PM
In statist socialism, the democratically controlled state actively intervenes in the economy via planning, regulation & provision of public goods. In social capitalism, civil society actors exercise control over capitalist power via worker councils, stakeholder governance, consumer boycotts etc./End
either directly ("social economy") or via the social empowerment of state power ("statist socialism with empowered participation") or economic power ("social capitalism"). In social economy, civil society assocs directly organise production to serve human needs (e.g. co-ops, Wikipedia). /6
November 4, 2025 at 2:37 PM
either directly ("social economy") or via the social empowerment of state power ("statist socialism with empowered participation") or economic power ("social capitalism"). In social economy, civil society assocs directly organise production to serve human needs (e.g. co-ops, Wikipedia). /6
Economic power could be subordinated to either state or social power; I'm sure Monbiot intends to identify the left with the latter. Wright has a few suggestions on how this might done, based on the idea of "social empowerment" over the economy... /5
November 4, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Economic power could be subordinated to either state or social power; I'm sure Monbiot intends to identify the left with the latter. Wright has a few suggestions on how this might done, based on the idea of "social empowerment" over the economy... /5
Wright associates social power w/ socialism, but he also notes that this isn't the conventional understanding. In any case, I think Monbiot is making the point that the left ought to oppose economic power in the context of capitalism, in which it is wielded by private firms & the wealthy. /4
November 4, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Wright associates social power w/ socialism, but he also notes that this isn't the conventional understanding. In any case, I think Monbiot is making the point that the left ought to oppose economic power in the context of capitalism, in which it is wielded by private firms & the wealthy. /4
Economic power is based on the ownership and control of economic resources, and dominates under capitalism. State power involves control over making and enforcing rules (statism), and social power is the capacity to mobilize people for cooperative, voluntary collective actions. /3
November 4, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Economic power is based on the ownership and control of economic resources, and dominates under capitalism. State power involves control over making and enforcing rules (statism), and social power is the capacity to mobilize people for cooperative, voluntary collective actions. /3
Marxists even talked about the "withering away of the state", leaving only economic administration as a source of power. What Monbiot has in mind is better represented by Erik O. Wright's "Envisioning Real Utopias", where Wright distinguishes between economic power, state power and social power. /2
November 4, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Marxists even talked about the "withering away of the state", leaving only economic administration as a source of power. What Monbiot has in mind is better represented by Erik O. Wright's "Envisioning Real Utopias", where Wright distinguishes between economic power, state power and social power. /2