Bhaskar SunkaraReseñas

Armas da Crítica 03 - Janeiro de 2021

Please see my review essay of this book, together with Robinson's 'Why You Should Be A Socialist,' here:

https://thepointmag.com/politics/socialism-or-democracy/

If you only read one of these books, make it Robinson's. Despite a horrific introduction, this is a nice book. The best thing in Sunkara's book, on the contrary, is the excellent introduction.

Part I is a history of socialism and took some work to get through. There are a lot of factions that are all interrelated, which makes it somewhat complicated and difficult to follow.

Part II is about what has happened since 2000 and the possibilities for the future. A much easier read and very hopeful.

I received this book for free from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program.

Insofar as I don't want the future most of the contributors of this book are advocating for, this was an interesting read. I put off reviewing this for two years, so as part of my Lenten observance, I will review The Future We Want: Radical Ideas for the New Century.

The first essay, "Working for the Weekend," by Chris Maisano is a good example of what you'll find in the rest of the volume: excellent points interspersed with assertions premised on things I find dubious. For example, Maisano says that the definition of "full employment" is an economist's construct, based on the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment, or NAIRU. It is indeed a bit strange to think that 5% unemployment, or 1 out of 20 people is looking for work [to horrendously oversimplify], constitutes full employment.

In principle, the NAIRU, or its equivalents, is supposed to be the point where there is equilibrium between labor and capital. It represents a place where the curves cross, based on some empirical data. There is some unemployment, and some change in prices. However, I find myself a little suspicious that the chosen euphemism for this is "full employment." If you read between the lines, the economists who write about this admit that there is an element of choice in what level of unemployment is considered acceptable.

I can get on board with that. I think my problem is that Maisano, and the other contributors to this volume support lots and lots of other things that directly work against the goal of a stronger labor movement. For example, immigration was long considered by union leaders to be a tool of the boss-class to keep wages down and workers internally divided. This subject never once comes up in Maisano's essay. Which is probably because it is an own-goal.

While I'm interested in many of the subjects discussed here, I'm far from convinced the contributors know enough about them to really contribute. Thus, despite some overlap with what I also find wrong with America, I think I'm still a contra.

This feels a bit too much like collecting Kamenev and Zinoviev trading cards.½

An engaging introduction to a storied subject, the hyperlinks to URLs included. Given that Barbara Tuchman has remarked that there was almost too much primary material on Socialism (in regard to her research for The Proud Tower), this primer is at once engaging and trenchant. It even delves into tax policy! Livestreamed by theorypleeb 2019-06-24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4DlBm_Yz-I&t=695s

“The Future We Want : Radical Ideas for the New Century” is a collection of essays from an eclectic group of young writers and activists. They look at all the problems we normally think about, education, inequality, racism, a justice system that lacks justice, and societal bias over sex and gender. As an example of that last I need to point out that on the book the authors are listed as Sarah Leonard and Bhaskar Sunkara. The online citation I found for the book, “Sunkara, Bhaskar. The Future We Want : Radical Ideas for the New Century. City: Henry Holt & Co, 2013.”, lists Sunkara, the male, as primary author. The book did open my eyes to a few problems that I have just begun to notice, “bad science”, the way financial interests are twisting what research we do as well as the outcomes of that research. .

As a lifelong liberal I wanted to like this book and, for the most part I did. Almost every goal mentioned in the book has my full support but, unfortunately, the book offers little, almost nothing, in the way of a roadmap to achieving these goals. We need a color blind justice system? Duhh. We need a justice system blind to color and wealth but how do we get there? A book I reviewed earlier, “Unfair: the new science of criminal injustice”, explains the problems in detail and gives a list of very doable corrections. Perhaps the problem is that each of these problems needs a full length treatment by an expert in the field to offer sufficient insight to allow a vision on solving them.

The one glaring problem I had with the book was its naive view of economics. Yes, today’s economy needs major reform but capitalism, Adam Smith’s capitalism not the “Free Market” Ayn Rand God is Greed, Austrian and Chicago school capitalism, is still the least bad of all economic systems. People do really work the best when they are working for their own improvement. That means that poverty wages do not inspire the best work, even with the whip of homelessness and starvation driving the workers. Regulating for living wages and safety nets for the calamities that naturally befall everyone are needed to, frankly, benefit the employers to ignorant or greedy to act in their workers and their own best interests.

The book is a good examination of what young liberals see as our current problems but it lacks any reasonable ideas to fix them. For that we have to look elsewhere. At least for ideas on repairing the broken criminal justice system I can recommend Adam Benforado’s “Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice”.

Wonderful review of many of the problems we all are currently facing and some fanciful paths to solve them! My thanks to the authors/editors here.

It's clear that many of the social problems the US faces are not responding to the "solutions" we've implemented. Simply raging against injustice doesn't fix anything. Eleven critics of the status quo have contributed essays that outline pragmatic solutions to issues such as gender and racial inequality, criminal justice, scientific research and more. Well-thought and clearly expressed solutions here have the added impetus of being possible.

Personally, I'm a big fan of thinking creatively to create the future we want. Humanity is on the cusp of the greatest change in our long history. Will we allow personal liberty to continue to erode or will we become the true democratic power we've given lip service to? Many of the ideas put forth have already proved themselves in other parts of the world. We once led the world... and can do so again if enough of us insist upon reforms that allow increasing numbers to thrive. This collection of essays is a nice jumpstart to imagining and implementing change.

If anything, I didn't think this was basic enough. The book should have started with a three or four page primer on what socialism _is_.

Lacking that, the book is well done. It purports to answer several pressing questions about socialism - 'Socialism sounds good in theory, but doesn't human nature make it impossible to realize?' - 'Will socialists take my Kenny Loggins records' - 'why do socialists talk so much about workers?'

I hope every Sanders supporter gets a copy and reads this. Forward!

Radical enough, just covering some of the key issues of our day. These essays are written for the everyday "radical," letting us know anyone can get involved.

I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. Unfortunately, I was not really able to get into it. I read the introduction and the chapter on LGBT issues. I think that I am not really the target audience. I like ideas about fixing things, but kept getting thrown out of the book by things like the informality of saying "screwed over" and the idea that we need to throw everything over and go further.

A collection of essays written by the next generation of socialist thinkers. Offers pragmatic approaches to socialism rather than the often utopian visions proscribed to leftist thinkers. I was very impressed with the caliber of thought, the writing and the topics that were explored. A common thread throughout included a universal income (a proposal from the earlier 20th Century on), the socialization of finance and industry, and the need to rethink basic human services that are distributed justly and equitably. Overall a great read and worthy of consideration.

In The Future We Want, a number of columnists from the Nation and Jacobin examine the historic set of problems inherited by a capitalistic society.

Each author has a pragmatic solution of how to live in a collective community where the pursuit of private profits and gains are frowned upon.

Liberal-minded readers and complacent consumers might be surprised by the Marxist views expressed in the essays. However, if you’re seeking a socialist perspective on politics, economics and culture, this book, and the magazines these articles first appeared in, are for you. If you’re a rugged individualist, look elsewhere. Those who are left might pick this book up by mistake.

This collection of essays was not what I was expecting or hoping for. I was looking for innovative, forward-thinking, positive "radical ideas for the new century" (as the subtitle promises), but I found a lot of complaining about capitalism -- and sure, many complaints are warranted, but excessive focusing on the negative tends to weigh down the message -- and revisiting socialism as a blanket solution. I'm not against socialism, by any means, but new ideas are needed, or at least new ways of thinking about old ideas (perhaps borrowing what works from many different systems of thought to create something new, as an example). I was expecting something more aligned with the general premise and tone of TED talks, less focused on what has been done to us and more on what we can do. I also found the writing to be stilted and turgid, not allowing any individual voices to really emerge. I wanted a book to inspire, but unfortunately, I did not find it here.

A series of short essays or papers on a variety of current social topics, including (in broad terms):

The criminal justice system in the USA and its problems
Feminism and work
Full Employment
Racism
Environmentalism
Education reform
Science research funding
Economic policy

The articles were articulate, thoughtful and engaging. The writers clearly care about the subject matter and envision a country that's better for many. Unfortunately their 'wants' come with few ideas on how to achieve those wants, so this is mostly a wish list. Without such concrete proposals for implementation, its difficult to assess the practicality of their proposals. In at least one instance, the essay is really just the minutes from a meeting. It will be interesting to see if they can organize enough to get some of their ideas into our political system and put to the test.

Born out of massive political discontent and the Occupy movement, the collection of ten essays in this timely book each characterizes an important social problem before suggesting a solution. In each case the suggested solution is a bold shift toward socialism. Not your father’s failed soviet-style socialism, but a more enlightened form that learns from the earlier failures of a poorly-conceived ideology, the failure of today’s oligarchy disguised as democracy, the inequities of capitalism gone wild, and experiences of some of the most socially successful countries in the world.

You may not yet feel ready for this book. The editors and many of the contributors write for the Jacobian magazine, a political quarterly self-described as “a leading voice of the American left”. The authors dismiss the choices provided by the major political parties as trivial adjustments of the status quo and choose instead a range of bold—some may say radical—approaches. If the tone seems a bit angry at times, perhaps you are hearing the voices of oppression.

Each chapter addresses a theme, characterized by these summaries and quotations:

+ Advocating for a living wage and shorter work hours: “So long as there is one man who seeks employment and cannot obtain it, the hours of labor are too long”.

+ Imagining a more effective and equitable education system: “…education will be life and life will be education.”

+ To make black lives really matter, we need to recognize that: “The large-scale relegation of black Americans to poverty is the essential ‘race’ problem.”

+ Women are trapped in an underclass because: “they are required to engage in both production and reproduction.” Therefore … the first step toward woman’s freedom must be universal, twenty-four-hour child care.

+ Environmental protection and sustainability can be achieved through various forms of tax-and-dividend approaches: “divorcing individual consumption from production is looking more and more like the only way to live decently in the face of resource constraints.”

+ Noting that “Apple’s tremendously successful lines of products…incorporate twelve key innovations…developed by publicly funded research and development projects” a chapter argues for more public sharing in the fruits of innovation.

+ The cure for bad science “…involves reaffirming financial support for those agencies that already fund basic research.”

+ Finding the future of criminal justice requires: the hard work that could make “abolition of the police” possible.

+ Recognizing gay marriage is a start, but because “trans people are twice as likely as cisgender Americans to live in extreme poverty” we are far from achieving social equality.

+ Various ideas for restructuring ownership and control of firms seek to: “…sketch a rational economic mechanism that denies the pursuit of profit priority over the fulfillment of human needs.”

This book is as likely to alienate and enrage capitalists as it is to inspire, inform, and energize thoughtful people who have been excluded from our present economic, social, and political systems. The authors are neither crackpots nor traitors, far from it; they are clear thinking citizens concerned for the future of America. The authors have given careful thought to understanding the deep roots of the many problems we face and suggest bold and creative solutions.

This is a well-written, well-argued book addressing many of the most important problems Americans face today. The solutions offered are preliminary at best; each is better suited to initiating thoughtful dialogue than as templates for quick fixes. This book gives Americans much to consider as we continue our wise transformation from a tribal mindset toward a global perspective.

If ever during a new century ideas were needed it is now. However, are radical ideas, and a leftist direction, really what is needed now? The first question to answer for this volume of course is to define what is meant by radical.

The volume is a radical paean. The premise is socialism and there is little to no substance or argumentation beyond the basic premise. There are rhetorical flourishes like mankind will flourish with a socialist ideal. How we will flourish simply by adopting socialism cannot be explained. Nonetheless, the various contributors offer platitudes, idealistic notions, and praise of socialism throughout.