Originally published in 1985, Retrieving Democracy offers a thorough and systematic answer to the familiar objection that genuine democracy is utopian. The book outlines an imaginary, yet imaginable, society that would be non-racist, non-sexist, and sufficiently classless to support true civic equality. Moving beyond previous discussions of re-industrialization and economic democracy, the book proposes the social control of corporations; a democratic division of labour that would maximize equality of citizenship rather than merely the production of commodities; the democratization of trade unions; the equalization of wages and job opportunities and the insulation of electoral politics from the power of money.
Part 1: Introduction 1. Social Equality and Political Equality 2. Pseudo-democracy Part 2: Social Equality 3. Prolegomena to Any Future Theory of Social Equality 4. Constrained Inequality 5. The Democratic Division of Labor 6. Socialization of the Means of Production 7. Planning and Accumulation Part 3: Political Equality 8. What is Political Equality? 9. Participation and Representation 10. The Rights of Equals Part 4: Conclusion 11. Program for a Future that Will Be Here Sooner Than We Think 12. The Pursuit of Equality.
Biography
Philip Green is Professor Emeritus of Smith College, Northampton, USA.
Reviews for the original edition of Retrieving Democracy:
‘An outstanding work in democratic theory… What Joseph Schumpeter did for liberal democracy, Philip Green has done for radical democracy. Green’s interpretation of democratic equality provides the essential guidelines, both in theory and in practice, for the transformation of society from a pseudo-democracy to a genuine one.’ Peter Bachrach.
‘I doubt we will want to forget his provoking ideas…[Green] is sensitive to the needs of equality, and we would do well to heed many of his suggestions.’ Elaine Spitz, Political Theory, Vol 15, No. 3.
