Why Not Socialism?
Ratings3
Average rating2.8
15
Ratings3
Average rating2.8
A compelling case for why it's time for socialism Is socialism desirable? Is it even possible? In this concise book, one of the world's leading political philosophers presents with clarity and wit a compelling moral case for socialism and argues that the obstacles in its way are exaggerated. There are times, G. A. Cohen notes, when we all behave like socialists. On a camping trip, for example, campers wouldn't dream of charging each other to use a soccer ball or for fish that they happened to catch. Campers do not give merely to get, but relate to each other in a spirit of equality and community. Would such socialist norms be desirable across society as a whole? Why not? Whole societies may differ from camping trips, but it is still attractive when people treat each other with the equal regard that such trips exhibit. But, however desirable it may be, many claim that socialism is impossible. Cohen writes that the biggest obstacle to socialism isn't, as often argued, intractable human selfishness—it's rather the lack of obvious means to harness the human generosity that is there. Lacking those means, we rely on the market. But there are many ways of confining the sway of the market: there are desirable changes that can move us toward a socialist society in which, to quote Albert Einstein, humanity has "overcome and advanced beyond the predatory stage of human development."
Reviews with the most likes.
Cohen really is a true believer. At least on a small scale, he really does make good case for socialism. Where it breaks down is really anything applied to a larger scale without a dispute mechanism (i.e. markets). I found his objection to market socialism in particular more telling than objectionable as he seems to really want all participants in a socialist system to be true believers too. At that point, I think he's completely lost the plot as we're now dealing with ideologues as the reason why the system works rather than a self-correcting feature of the system itself (i.e. even capitalism would work if it was “true” capitalism and not corrupted by cronyism and regulatory capture, etc.).
This is really just a long form essay. Hardly a book but the algorithm recommended it so here it is, padding the list. It's a rather un-compelling metaphor for why being relentlessly greedy is actually bad. I was unimpressed. I guess this might be useful to some extreme reactionaries? But even then, it's still a 92-page book that they sure ain't gonna read. Show em the Einstein socialism article instead.
The sentences, while not only too long, but also too fond of commas, such like this, struggle to reach their, also kind of convoluted, conclusions.
The whole book is written like this. Thanks the stars it's only 83 pages and the page size is small while the font size is relatively big. An average of 5 sentences fit on a single page.
Content, when you actually find it between all the commas, itself is well-researched and the sources invite further reading.
