Future Histories S03E50 - Aaron Benanav | Beyond Capitalism I
Kapitalismus Als Ein-Kriterien-System
- Kapitalismus organisiert die Ökonomie um ein einziges Kriterium: Effizienz/Profit.
- Eine multi-kriteriale Ökonomie löst Effizienz als alleiniges Ziel und stellt mehrere gleichwertige Ziele gegenüber.
Stagnation Als Zentrale Dynamik
- Benanav sieht eine langfristige Tendenz zur wirtschaftlichen Stagnation des Kapitalismus.
- Diese Stagnation entkoppelt das Versprechen steigender Einkommen von gesellschaftlicher Stabilität.
Demokratie Als Entscheidung Über Zukünfte
- Demokratische Selbstverwaltung allein reicht nicht; Sozialismus muss offene Zukunftsalternativen ermöglichen.
- Wahre Demokratie heißt die Fähigkeit, demokratisch zwischen konkurrierenden Zukunftsentwürfen zu entscheiden.
Aaron Benanav discusses the first part of his ‘Beyond Capitalism’ essay series in the New Left Review. In this part he lays the groundwork for his proposal of a multi-criterial economy.
SASE - Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics:
SASE Network I: Alternatives to Capitalism (including CfP):
https://sase.org/networks/i-alternatives-to-capitalism/
Shownotes
Aaron at Cornell University:
https://cals.cornell.edu/people/aaron-benanav
Aaron’s personal website:
Access to Aaron's paywalled publications:
https://www.aaronbenanav.com/papers
Mailing List to join the Movement for Multi-Dimensional Economics:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeUF7MZ2jQJXY_wHKn5xSIo-_L0tkMO-SG079sa5lGhRJTgqg/viewform
Benanav, A. (2025). Beyond Capitalism—1. New Left Review, Issue 153, 65–128.
https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii153/articles/aaron-benanav-beyond-capitalism-1
Benanav, A. (2025). Beyond Capitalism—2. New Left Review, Issue 154, 97–143.
https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii154/articles/aaron-benanav-beyond-capitalism-2
Benanv, A. (2020). Automation and the Future of Work. Verso.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2682-automation-and-the-future-of-work
on economic stagnation, see especially chapter 3, “In the Shadow of Stagnation”.
on Marx’s concept of the Value-Form:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/appendix.htm
Moore, J.W. & Patel, R. (2020). A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things. A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet. Verso.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/817-a-history-of-the-world-in-seven-cheap-things
on the abstract domination of capitalism:
Postone, M. (1993). Time, Labor and Social Domination. A Reinterpretation of Marx’s Critical Theory. Cambridge University Press.
https://files.libcom.org/files/Moishe%20Postone%20-%20Time,%20Labor,%20and%20Social%20Domination.pdf
Mau, S. (2023). Mute Compulsion. A Marxist Theory of the Economic Power of Capital. Verso.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2759-mute-compulsion
Leipold, B. (2024). Citizen Marx. Republicanism and the Formation of Karl Marx’s Social and Political Thought. Princeton University Press.
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691205236/citizen-marx
on GDP (Gross Domestic Product):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product
on the Five-Year Plans in the Soviet Union:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-year_plans_of_the_Soviet_Union
Katsenelinboigen, A. (1977). Coloured Markets in the Soviet Union. Soviet Studies. Vol. 29, No.1. 62-85.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/150728
Uvalić, M. (2018). The Rise and Fall of Market Socialism in Yugoslavia.
on Friedrich Hayek:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek
Hayek, F. A. (1945). The Use of Knowledge in Society. The American Economic Review, 35(4), 519–530.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1809376
on the Pareto Optimum:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_efficiency
on Rational Choice Theory:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_choice_model
on Behavioral Economics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_economics
on Otto Neurath:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Neurath
on Neurath’s technocratic tendencies:
https://jacobin.com/2023/02/technocratic-socialism-otto-neurath-utopianism-capitalism
on Joseph Raz:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Raz
on Utilitarianism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism
on the Capability Approach by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_approach
on the Human Development Index (HDI):
https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/human-development-index#/indicies/HDI
on the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs):
on Multi-Objective Optimization:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-objective_optimization
Saros, D. E. (2014). Information Technology and Socialist Construction. The End of Capital and the Transition to Socialism. Routledge.
on Neoclassical Economics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoclassical_economics
on Citizen Assemblies and Sortition:
https://www.sortitionfoundation.org/
on John Stuart Mill:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill
Mill, J. S. (2011). On Liberty. Cambridge University Press.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/on-liberty/62EC27F1E66E2BCBA29DDCD5294B3DE0
McCabe, H. (2021). John Stuart Mill, Socialist. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
https://www.mqup.ca/john-stuart-mill--socialist-products-9780228005742.php
on Degrowth:
on Nick Land and Right Accelerationism:
https://youtu.be/lrOVKHg_PJQ?si=Q4oFbaM1p4fhcWP0
on Left Accelerationism:
https://criticallegalthinking.com/2013/05/14/accelerate-manifesto-for-an-accelerationist-politics/
Devine, P. (2002). Participatory Planning through Negotiated Coordination. Science & Society, Vol. 66, No. 1, 72-85.
https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/siso.66.1.72.21001?journalCode=siso
on Oskar R. Lange:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_R._Lange
on Lange’s neoclassical approach to Socialism:
https://jacobin.com/2022/10/oskar-lange-neoclassical-marxism-limits-of-capitalism-economic-theory
Kowalik, T. (1990). Lange-Lerner Mechanism. In: Eatwell, J., Milgate, M., Newman, P. (eds). Problems of the Planned Economy. Palgrave Macmillan.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-20863-0_21
on Joseph Schumpeters concept of Creative Destruction:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction
Shaikh, A. (2016). Capitalism. Competition, Conflict, Crises. Oxford Academic.
https://academic.oup.com/book/1464
Kornai, J. (1980). “Hard” and “Soft” Budget Constraint. Acta Oeconomica, 25(3/4), 231–245.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40728773
on the Cobb-Douglas Production Function:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobb%E2%80%93Douglas_production_function
on Adam Smith:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith
Lutosch, H. (2025). Embracing the Small Stuff. Caring for Children in a Liberated Society. In: Groos, J., & Sorg, C. (Eds.). (2025). Creative Construction. Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press.
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction
Hahnel, R. (2021). Democratic Economic Planning. Routledge.
https://www.routledge.com/Democratic-Economic-Planning/Hahnel/p/book/9781032003320
Cockshott, P. & Cottrell, A. (1993). Towards a New Socialism. Spokesman.
https://users.wfu.edu/cottrell/socialism_book/new_socialism.pdf
on Universal Basic Services (UBS):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_basic_services
https://autonomy.work/ubs-hub/
Fraser, N. & Sorg, C. (2025). Socialism, Planning and the Relativity of Dirt. In: Groos, J., & Sorg, C. (Eds.). (2025). Creative Construction. Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press.
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction
on Milton Friedman:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman
on John Maynard Keynes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes
Aaron on what to learn from radical Keynesianism for a transitionary Program:
Benanav, A. & Henwood, D. (2025). Behind the News. Beyond the Capitalist Economy w/ Aaron Benanav.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2diIiFkkM4x7MoZhi9e0tx
on Socializing Finance:
McCarthy, M. A. (2025). The Master's Tools. How Finance Wrecked Democracy (And a Radical Plan to Rebuild It). Verso.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/755-the-master-s-tools
Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics
S3E47 | Jason W. Moore on Socialism in the Web of Life
S03E29 | Nancy Fraser on Alternatives to Capitalism
https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e29-nancy-fraser-on-alternatives-to-capitalism/
S03E04 | Tim Platenkamp on Republican Socialism, General Planning and Parametric Control
S02E33 | Pat Devine on Negotiated Coordination
https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e33-pat-devine-on-negotiated-coordination/
S03E10 | Aaron Benanav on Associational Socialism and Democratic Planning
S01E32 | Daniel E. Saros on Digital Socialism and the Abolition of Capital (Part 2)
S02E31 | Daniel E. Saros on Digital Socialism and the Abolition of Capital (Part 1)
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If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these resources might be of help:
Democratic planning – an information website
https://www.democratic-planning.com/
Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue 1.
https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1
Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction - Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press. [for a review copy, please contact: amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction
International Network for Democratic Economic Planning
Democratic Planning Research Platform:
https://www.planningresearch.net/
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Episode Keywords
#AaronBenanav, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories, #FutureHistoriesInternational, #futurehistoriesinternational, #Transition, #DemocraticPlanning, #Keynes, #Efficiency, #Economics, #NeoclassicalEconomics, #NeoclassicalSocialism, #OttoNeurath, #DemocraticEconomicPlanning, #Capitalism, #Economics, #Socialism, #Socialisation, #Investment, #Degrowth, #UniversalBasicServices, #CareWork