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Liberating Theory
A collectively authored volume that provides a unique conceptual framework for understanding contemporary U.S. society and history, and developing a dynamic vision and strategy for social change.
197 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1986
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128 people want to read
About the author
Michael Albert
79 books66 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name. See this thread for more information.
American activist, speaker, and writer. He is co-editor of ZNet, and co-editor and co-founder of Z Magazine. He also co-founded South End Press and has written numerous books and articles. He developed along with Robin Hahnel the economic vision called participatory economics.
Albert identifies himself as a market abolitionist and favors democratic participatory planning as an alternative.
During the 1960s, Albert was a member of Students for a Democratic Society, and was active in the anti-Vietnam War movement.
Albert's memoir, Remembering Tomorrow: From SDS to Life After Capitalism (ISBN 1583227423), was published in 2007 by Seven Stories Press.
American activist, speaker, and writer. He is co-editor of ZNet, and co-editor and co-founder of Z Magazine. He also co-founded South End Press and has written numerous books and articles. He developed along with Robin Hahnel the economic vision called participatory economics.
Albert identifies himself as a market abolitionist and favors democratic participatory planning as an alternative.
During the 1960s, Albert was a member of Students for a Democratic Society, and was active in the anti-Vietnam War movement.
Albert's memoir, Remembering Tomorrow: From SDS to Life After Capitalism (ISBN 1583227423), was published in 2007 by Seven Stories Press.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 20, 2018
This is a fabulous - I don't really agree with big parts of it, but it's a piece that keeps drawing me back to it for ideas and to help me revisit, rethink and rework my analyses because as well as not really agreeing with it, I paradoxically agree with it as well because of its challenges, provocations and openness. The authors - Mel King, Leslie Cagan, Noam Chomsky, Robin Hahnel, Mel King, Lydia Sargent & Holly Sklar - are some of the best writers on the US left making names for themselves in or befor the late 1970s, and all associated with the excellent Z Magazine and Z-Net (at http://www.zcommunications.org/znet).
Between them they are Marxists, anarchists, marxist-feminists, left activists from African-American politics, academics; the kind of impressive multi-dimensional activists for whom this kind of book is so valuable. Their objective is to outline a holistic humanist theory, strategy and politics of struggle organised around a number of axes - community, kinship, economics and the state. These categories disrupt the simplistic ideas of 'race', gender, class, sexuality and the like that seem to dominate left politics and the politics of identity to suggest ways to think, to analyse and to act in the contemporary capitalist world, where their holistic humanism it is hoped will help "promote autonomy in the context of solidarity" (p 145) alongside a recognition of legitimacy of other struggles but without falling into the traps of relativism. It is a big ask.
It is made more so because of the diverse views the authors share; as a result this is open and non-dogmatic, and the final quarter of the book is turned over to debates between the authors about underpinning ideas and practical consequences. This then produces a radically open and dialogic text with the result that this is liberating theory - both in terms of liberating theory from its constraints and strictures, and in terms of giving us tools the be active with - theory for liberating.
It is a must read, and the kind of thing we need to suggest ways beyond the politics of spectacle that seems to have become so important in recent years and beyond the cynicism of the present times. It sits alongside Marta Harnecker's outstanding Rebuilding the Left (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...) as essential reading and reading for revisiting.
Between them they are Marxists, anarchists, marxist-feminists, left activists from African-American politics, academics; the kind of impressive multi-dimensional activists for whom this kind of book is so valuable. Their objective is to outline a holistic humanist theory, strategy and politics of struggle organised around a number of axes - community, kinship, economics and the state. These categories disrupt the simplistic ideas of 'race', gender, class, sexuality and the like that seem to dominate left politics and the politics of identity to suggest ways to think, to analyse and to act in the contemporary capitalist world, where their holistic humanism it is hoped will help "promote autonomy in the context of solidarity" (p 145) alongside a recognition of legitimacy of other struggles but without falling into the traps of relativism. It is a big ask.
It is made more so because of the diverse views the authors share; as a result this is open and non-dogmatic, and the final quarter of the book is turned over to debates between the authors about underpinning ideas and practical consequences. This then produces a radically open and dialogic text with the result that this is liberating theory - both in terms of liberating theory from its constraints and strictures, and in terms of giving us tools the be active with - theory for liberating.
It is a must read, and the kind of thing we need to suggest ways beyond the politics of spectacle that seems to have become so important in recent years and beyond the cynicism of the present times. It sits alongside Marta Harnecker's outstanding Rebuilding the Left (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...) as essential reading and reading for revisiting.
December 18, 2024
This used to be my go-to book for trying to get organizers on the left off their butts and doing action science, but a) it came out before Kimberlé Crenshaw's groundbreaking work around intersectionality was more widely known, b) it works best in conjunction with other texts, such as Johnson-Reagon's "Coalition Politics: Turning the Century," c) it's written for activist gearheads. Take it with a few grains of salt, and carry on.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews