Why Not Socialism?
Written by G. A. Cohen
Narrated by John Lescault
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Is socialism desirable? Is it even possible? In this concise audiobook, 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."
G. A. Cohen
G. A. Cohen (1941–2009) was the Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at All Souls College, University of Oxford, from 1985 to 2008. At the time of his death, he held the Quain Chair in Jurisprudence at University College London. His books include Karl Marx's Theory of History and Why Not Socialism? (both Princeton). Michael Otsuka is professor of philosophy at University College London.
Related to Why Not Socialism?
Related audiobooks
Because We Say So Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Nationalism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Open Society and Its Enemies: New One-Volume Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Political Philosophy: An audio course on Western Political Theory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Marx Was Right: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Four Futures: Life After Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Understanding Socialism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God and the State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anarchy, State, and Utopia: Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why You Should Be a Socialist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How will capitalism end?: Essays on a Failing System Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reform or Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Populism: A Very Short Introduction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wages of Rebellion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A People's Guide to Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5State and Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Communist Manifesto Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chapo Guide to Revolution: A Manifesto Against Logic, Facts, and Reason Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Political Ideologies For You
The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fascism: A Warning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Democrat Party Hates America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Will Own Nothing: Your War with a New Financial World Order and How to Fight Back Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marriage Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The MAGA Diaries: My Surreal Adventures Inside the Right-Wing (And How I Got Out) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Long Slide: Thirty Years in American Journalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Communist Manifesto (Unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unwoke: How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Puppeteers: The People Who Control the People Who Control America Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Capitalist Punishment: How Wall Street Is Using Your Money to Create a Country You Didn't Vote For Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Is Reality Optional?: And Other Essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5America's Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Marxism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emergent Strategy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Why Not Socialism?
72 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Very shallow, and burdened by unspoken assumptions and logical fallacies. The author fails to address the most interesting aspects of socialism such as its necessarily authoritarian nature. He also appears to think that complex economic trade offs can be easily resolved if people simply decide to be more generous.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is a bourgeois academic approach to socialism. It suffers from the vices of all philosophers. It is detached from material reality and conditions. It focuses exclusively on armchair logic. It fails to challenge standard bourgeois assumptions. It is steeped in moralism and idealism. It illustrates the superiority of Marxism by contrast. Nobody who reads this will walk away inspired or energized and it will not provide anyone with the tools to fight back against capitalism or build socialism. On the bright side, it is short.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Provides a pretty solid summary of arguments in favor of socialism (both planned and market varieties) and addresses common criticisms of socialism as a theory. It's a pretty short book so it doesn't go into a lot of detail on any particular topic, but I think it can serve as a great primer for why socialism is worth pursuing, even if we may not yet have all the answers to technical questions about how such a society would function. There are definitely other books that expand further on specific topics in this one.