A Future for Socialism
In this text, the author proposes a new future for socialism based on a redefinition of market socialism. He argues for a modified version of socialism, not necessarily based on public ownership, but founded on equality of opportunity and political influence.
Socialism is not dead, argues noted economist John Roemer; it is merely in need of modernizing. Roemer believes that the hallmark of socialism is egalitarianism, and he reminds us that capitalist societies face increasingly difficult problems of poverty and economic inequality. Re-energizing a debate that began in the late 1930s, he brings a new level of sophistication to the important questions of political economy, in line with contemporary theories of justice and equality.
Reviews
Essential reading for those interested in rethinking the foundations of the socialist project and for those with a more academic interest in the relationship between forms of property relations and economic institutions.
John Roemer argues that socialism is about equality, that a democratic market socialism represents the best hope for achieving equality, and that the failure of Soviet-style planned economies does not defeat that hope.