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After Capitalism: From Managerialism to Workplace Democracy
After Capitalism is the apex of the life’s work of one of the most respected scholars of the American workplace. For nearly half a century, Seymour Melman has been an influential commentatoron capitalism, militarism and their discontents. In After Capitalism he explores a growing trend in capitalist systems workplace democracy.
The end of the Cold War in 1991 inspired an unprecedented outburst of triumphalist rhetoric among proponents of unfettered capitalism. Free-marketeers believed that we were witnessing “the end of history,” and proclaimed that the market economy was here to stay, that all alternatives had been proven inferior. Melman, in dissent, tracks the increasing social and economic inequities and the resulting cries for workplace reform.
He points out the ominous parallels between the Soviet Union’s planned economy and the relentless onward march of American capitalism. Just as the Soviet planned economy venerated “the State” above all else, American capitalism views the health and eternal expansion of the free market as the ultimate both propagate vast and harmful income gaps, both rely on and promote militarism—and neither leaves much room for consideration of workers’ well-being. Melman analyzes the adverse economic impact of these flaws and oversights, which have led to “grave production weaknesses in the U.S. economy,” and he suggests an alternative to current economic organization that holds out the promise of both greater fairness and equity and more soundly balanced production.
“Workplace democracy,” in which workers actively participate in the management of their workplace, is gaining ground in venues as diverse as Israeli kibbutzim and Basque factories. Melman explains how workplace democracy can, and why it should, be implemented in America. After Capitalism is the new century’s first essential book about thoughtful, humane, at once commonsensical and revolutionary, Melman’s prescriptions can inspire changes in the way the world works.
The end of the Cold War in 1991 inspired an unprecedented outburst of triumphalist rhetoric among proponents of unfettered capitalism. Free-marketeers believed that we were witnessing “the end of history,” and proclaimed that the market economy was here to stay, that all alternatives had been proven inferior. Melman, in dissent, tracks the increasing social and economic inequities and the resulting cries for workplace reform.
He points out the ominous parallels between the Soviet Union’s planned economy and the relentless onward march of American capitalism. Just as the Soviet planned economy venerated “the State” above all else, American capitalism views the health and eternal expansion of the free market as the ultimate both propagate vast and harmful income gaps, both rely on and promote militarism—and neither leaves much room for consideration of workers’ well-being. Melman analyzes the adverse economic impact of these flaws and oversights, which have led to “grave production weaknesses in the U.S. economy,” and he suggests an alternative to current economic organization that holds out the promise of both greater fairness and equity and more soundly balanced production.
“Workplace democracy,” in which workers actively participate in the management of their workplace, is gaining ground in venues as diverse as Israeli kibbutzim and Basque factories. Melman explains how workplace democracy can, and why it should, be implemented in America. After Capitalism is the new century’s first essential book about thoughtful, humane, at once commonsensical and revolutionary, Melman’s prescriptions can inspire changes in the way the world works.
576 pages, Hardcover
First published October 2, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 29, 2008
This book is an absolute classic on the way forward for post-industrial society.
It is a prescription for creating a humane society out of the industrial wasteland of so-called western capitalism, which is raging around the world. In the spirit of initiatives like the Mondragon Cooperative, and Consent management (Sociocracy) in Holland, here is a book of deep insight, and with the practicality to help people design alternatives.
It belongs on the shelf also with Jack Stack's The Great Game of Business, some of Marvin Weisbord, and other profound thinkers about humanistic management, as part of a very classic and very hopeful strain of thought, amidst the frenetic energy of stockmarket capitalism.
It is highly recommended in a time when new thinking about post-industrial society is breaking out all over the place, along with a budding understanding that social business, which considers all stakeholders, not just stockholders is here to stay, and is just beginning its development.
It is a prescription for creating a humane society out of the industrial wasteland of so-called western capitalism, which is raging around the world. In the spirit of initiatives like the Mondragon Cooperative, and Consent management (Sociocracy) in Holland, here is a book of deep insight, and with the practicality to help people design alternatives.
It belongs on the shelf also with Jack Stack's The Great Game of Business, some of Marvin Weisbord, and other profound thinkers about humanistic management, as part of a very classic and very hopeful strain of thought, amidst the frenetic energy of stockmarket capitalism.
It is highly recommended in a time when new thinking about post-industrial society is breaking out all over the place, along with a budding understanding that social business, which considers all stakeholders, not just stockholders is here to stay, and is just beginning its development.
October 1, 2021
Insightful and prescient but also way too long and repetitive.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews