Common Wealth: For a Free, Equal, Mutual, and Sustainable Society

by Martin Large

From bitter searching of the heart
We rise to play a greater part
This is the faith by which we stand
Men shall know common wealth again
―Leonard Cohen (Villanelle for Our Time)What social future do we want, and how do we get there? Common Wealth analyzes how the market has taken over the state and public services, while education and health have become "industries" and profit-making businesses. Toxic, neoliberal capitalism was unleashed during the 1980s and 1990s, only to crash in the worldwide financial melt-down beginnning in 2007 and followed by public bail-outs of financial institutions.Common Wealth proposes an a tripolar model of society, made up of government, civil society, and business, all of which work in cooperation to build a freer, more equitable, and sustainable society. The author describes ways of building common wealth, such as transforming capitalism for individual initiative and public benefit.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2010

Reviews

[Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well researched--the author is brimming with anecdotes and examples of (almost) anything needed to back up his points. His argumentation is a bit spotty in places, however. At one point while defending Universal Basic Income he says "research shows that most people are motivated to work," without saying what research he's citing, or what 'most people' or 'work' means. Throughout the book he uses a false dichotomy between the common good and commodification, when in reality the two often spill into each other). In one or two places he veers into pseudo science by advocating against GMOs and citing debunked papers.

Despite the hiccups, the broad strokes of his arguments are really enlightening, and definitely worth looking at for someone looking at capitalism and realizing how broken it is, and how it's only getting worse. I was introduced to a lot of social programs that sound like good ideas (land value tax, de-centralized and progressive approaches to education, community land trusts, etc), as well as good arguments to bolster my already-favorable opinions on things like Universal Basic Income.

Large also does a great job at sounding the alarm to really bad trends which serve to turn robust social programs into profit-generators that gouge the average person and decrease the standard of living. He does a good job at painting a picture of the decline of things like the National Health Service and UK's education system. Though there are large sections where he fails to hold my attention and other areas where I simply didn't understand what he was talking about--and Large rarely takes pains to explain certain subjects to people who haven't heard of them before--I found the book to be a useful introduction to social threefolding.