Boris Frankel
University of Melbourne, Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning, Professor and Honorary Principal Fellow
University of Melbourne, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, Professor and Honorary Principal Fellow
Professor Boris Frankel is a social theorist, political economist and cultural critic. He is Honorary Principal Fellow at the Univerity of Melbourne Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Building. He has had over 40 years of teaching and research experience at universities in Australia, Europe and the USA.Apart from a strong research interest in Australian and international comparative political economy and social policy, he has also researched in the areas of globalisation, the knowledge economy, alternative industry and environmental policies, community development, social change movements, theories of the state and issues of democratic governance. A long-experienced media commentator and participant in policy debates, his books include DemocracyVersus Sustainability; Capitalism Versus Democracy?; Fictions of Sustainability; Beyond the State?; The Post Industrial Utopians; From the Prophets Deserts Come; When the Boat Comes In: Transforming Australia in the Age of Globalisation; and Zombies, Lilliputians and Sadists: The Power of the Living Dead and the Future of Australia. Boris’ work has been included in anthologies alongside leading international theorists and social scientists and translated into numerous languages. Current research interests include the socio-political problems of transitioning to a post-carbon economy with specific reference to creating sustainable employment and public services in a volatile global economy characterised by high indebtedness, fiscal crises and political gridlock. The bitter resistance by powerful socio-economic forces against necessary public policy measures to protect endangered local and global habitats and bio-diversity in highly unequal and undemocratic capitalist countries is a central focus of his work.
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There is a profound lack of awareness about the coming struggle over national and individual material footprints. Any significant but necessary changes to the way material resources are currently used will alter political and socio-economic alignments of both democratic and anti-democratic parties and movements across the political spectrum. Moreover, these struggles are likely to change global geo-political relations, and affect current levels and forms of extraction, production, trade, consumption, and employment. We face volatile and unpredictable times.
These and many other issues are discussed with reference to a wide range of political movements, policy proposals and debates over cultural and political economic practices. It is the conflict between various institutional practices and conceptions of ‘democracy’ and ‘environmental sustainability’ that will help shape future levels of equality or social justice across the world.
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Introduction 1
From Carbon Capitalism to Post-Carbon Democracies 26
Intellectuals, Networks, Culture: Shaping Future Post-Carbon Societies 60
The Political Struggle Over National and Per Capita Material Footprints 95
Degrowth: Direct Democracy in a Political Economic Vacuum 134
Searching for a Mode of Politics to Break the Impasse 173
Alternatives to Welfare States: Beyond 'Dependent Beggars and Wage Slaves' 211
Conclusion 252
Notes 265
Index 285
In a penetrating critique of how the tensions between ‘democracy and sustainability’ have impacted the old debates over capitalism versus democracy, the author examines proposals and images of the ‘good life’ put forward by social democrats, greens, radical technological utopians, green growth ecological modernisers and degrowthers. Are the broadly held goals of greater social justice, ending poverty and inequality within and between affluent countries and low and middle-income societies possible without transgressing the fragile and damaged biophysical life support boundaries of the earth? Why is it that many who dispute the compatibility or incompatibility of ‘capitalism and democracy’ are yet to fully consider what policies, organisational forms and social changes flow from populations that favour democracy but oppose policies committed to greater environmental sustainability? These and many other issues are discussed in this unsettling new book which aims to stimulate us to rethink how we see our existing societies and future social, economic and political change.
Boris Frankel is a social theorist, political economist and cultural critic. He is Honorary Principal Fellow in the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne.
The book discusses the divergent approaches which have been made to problems associated with unemployment, social welfare, ecological crisis, post-modern cynicism, technocracy and militarism. The author seeks to demonstrate that the ideas developed by the thinkers concerned have to be taken with great seriousness by anyone interested in radical social change.
The Post-Industrial Utopians is not only an illuminating introduction to major issues troubling contemporary theorists and activists. In offering a critical appraisal of the post-industrial utopians, Frankel develops an original perspective of his own concerning problems of political theory and practice today. He concludes with a positive set of feasible socio-political alternatives.
A critique of public policy and economic rationalism in Australia, this book offers feasible proposals for dealing with unemployment, poverty, retirement income, rural and urban industries, public sector services, environmental issues and welfare.
CONTENTS:
1. Australia's political field in an age of globalisation
2. Coming to terms with the new dynamics of capitalism in Australia
3. The new politics of distribution: crisis-managing households, markets and lifecycles
4. The politics of production: 'new economy', old problems?
5. After criticism: developing feasible eco-social policies
6. Tackling the dangers of uneven and unsustainable development
7. Abandoning neo-liberalism
Conclusion: Who shalt have the fishies when the boat comes in?
There is a profound lack of awareness about the coming struggle over national and individual material footprints. Any significant but necessary changes to the way material resources are currently used will alter political and socio-economic alignments of both democratic and anti-democratic parties and movements across the political spectrum. Moreover, these struggles are likely to change global geo-political relations, and affect current levels and forms of extraction, production, trade, consumption, and employment. We face volatile and unpredictable times.
These and many other issues are discussed with reference to a wide range of political movements, policy proposals and debates over cultural and political economic practices. It is the conflict between various institutional practices and conceptions of ‘democracy’ and ‘environmental sustainability’ that will help shape future levels of equality or social justice across the world.
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Introduction 1
From Carbon Capitalism to Post-Carbon Democracies 26
Intellectuals, Networks, Culture: Shaping Future Post-Carbon Societies 60
The Political Struggle Over National and Per Capita Material Footprints 95
Degrowth: Direct Democracy in a Political Economic Vacuum 134
Searching for a Mode of Politics to Break the Impasse 173
Alternatives to Welfare States: Beyond 'Dependent Beggars and Wage Slaves' 211
Conclusion 252
Notes 265
Index 285
In a penetrating critique of how the tensions between ‘democracy and sustainability’ have impacted the old debates over capitalism versus democracy, the author examines proposals and images of the ‘good life’ put forward by social democrats, greens, radical technological utopians, green growth ecological modernisers and degrowthers. Are the broadly held goals of greater social justice, ending poverty and inequality within and between affluent countries and low and middle-income societies possible without transgressing the fragile and damaged biophysical life support boundaries of the earth? Why is it that many who dispute the compatibility or incompatibility of ‘capitalism and democracy’ are yet to fully consider what policies, organisational forms and social changes flow from populations that favour democracy but oppose policies committed to greater environmental sustainability? These and many other issues are discussed in this unsettling new book which aims to stimulate us to rethink how we see our existing societies and future social, economic and political change.
Boris Frankel is a social theorist, political economist and cultural critic. He is Honorary Principal Fellow in the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne.
The book discusses the divergent approaches which have been made to problems associated with unemployment, social welfare, ecological crisis, post-modern cynicism, technocracy and militarism. The author seeks to demonstrate that the ideas developed by the thinkers concerned have to be taken with great seriousness by anyone interested in radical social change.
The Post-Industrial Utopians is not only an illuminating introduction to major issues troubling contemporary theorists and activists. In offering a critical appraisal of the post-industrial utopians, Frankel develops an original perspective of his own concerning problems of political theory and practice today. He concludes with a positive set of feasible socio-political alternatives.
A critique of public policy and economic rationalism in Australia, this book offers feasible proposals for dealing with unemployment, poverty, retirement income, rural and urban industries, public sector services, environmental issues and welfare.
CONTENTS:
1. Australia's political field in an age of globalisation
2. Coming to terms with the new dynamics of capitalism in Australia
3. The new politics of distribution: crisis-managing households, markets and lifecycles
4. The politics of production: 'new economy', old problems?
5. After criticism: developing feasible eco-social policies
6. Tackling the dangers of uneven and unsustainable development
7. Abandoning neo-liberalism
Conclusion: Who shalt have the fishies when the boat comes in?