Introduction

Abstract

We are on the verge of a tectonic socio-political shift. The impetus for transformation is tangible in policy-making, social criticism and intellectual critique. This book tries to make sense of this moment of radical instability by orienting analysis towards three cardinal points in modern social life: capitalism, socialism and democracy. Working on the intersection of the concepts and focusing on specific features of the contemporary social order, the analyses collected here offer a survey of some of the pressing issues and debates surrounding twenty-first century capitalism. In addition to exploring directly the relationship between capitalism, socialism and democracy (Chap. 2), contributions to this volume examine privatization and the governance of the commons as the leading dichotomy that has structured debates on economic organization (Chap. 3), financialization as a key mechanism of capitalism’s expansion and transformation (Chap. 4), and technology and work as central institutions in the consolidation of capitalism, as well as its potential overcoming (Chap. 5). In seeking to discern the parameters of radical progressive change, we review variegation within global capitalism (Chap. 6), cosmopolitanism, development and human rights (Chap. 7), feminist theory and social solidarity (Chap. 8), the ecological trauma as a catalyst for seeking an alternative to capitalism beyond the horizon of socialism (Chap. 9), and capitalist crisis (Chap. 10). The exigencies of radical progressive transformation are clear; the available paths are many, as this volume displays and offers a rudimentary map with which to navigate this shifting terrain.