Parecon

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Parecon (short for Participatory Economics to German about participatory management system ) is a proposal for an economic system that is trying to build on the principle that every human decisions to the extent a say can to how he or she is affected by them. The set of values ​​on which Parecon rests comes from the tradition of anarchism and socialism . It is based on the work of the co-founder of Z-Magazine Michael Albert and the economist Robin Hahnel in the early 1980s and 1990s .

Rejection of capitalism

Rejection of markets

Since the purchase and sale of goods and services in markets takes place without the right of those who are not involved in the sales process but can still be strongly affected by it, Parecon rejects this. A simple example is the sale of weapons, which is in the interests of buyers and sellers, but seldom in the interests of society. It is the same with addictive substances such as alcohol and nicotine; these cases can be regulated to some extent, but the logic of markets always favors current individual interest over long-term and general interest. One could well argue that the production and purchase (or sale) of automobiles for use in densely populated areas, economically, environmentally, and practically, is far less in the interests of a country's present and future populations than it is strongly developed mass transport system. But from Parecon's point of view, this question would not arise if only producers and consumers ever entered into negotiations with one another.

Rejection of private ownership of the means of production

The representatives of Parecon reject the idea of ​​owning a means of production , as it would give the owner undue influence on economic decisions. For example, large corporations would be extremely free to act in the interests of their owners' power, without giving outsiders a say in decisions that affect them. These decisions are of not negligible importance: The questions “What should be produced?”, “Who should produce?”, “How should production be carried out?”, “What is being researched?”, “What is being invested in?” Affect everyone Members of a society; but only a fraction of that would decide from Parecon's point of view. The logic of private ownership of the means of production would exclude the participation of the population in the most basic economic decisions. The political procedures of parliamentarism then dealt only with administrative questions of these decisions. This is what the American social philosopher John Dewey meant when he wrote that “government is the shadow that corporations cast over society” (“Government is the shadow cast by big business over society”).

Institutional framework

The authors imagine the following principles and institutions as a framework for the economic processes that are to underpin a classless, self-determined and economically just society:

Gatherings

All producers and consumers - and not just their leaders - can democratically participate in producer and consumer assemblies ( councils). These could be broken down by size and geography. Decisions should be made at the appropriate level; so concerns z. B. the construction of a nationwide high-speed rail network would affect the entire population and would ultimately be decided in a national assembly; but the establishment of a community library in a shared apartment would certainly only concern them.

Planning processes

Every year, with the participation of all members of society, a plan is to be developed for the use of the existing means of production, for the distribution of the goods and services produced and for the determination of the investments to be made. Decision-making is based on the assemblies and also allows the more local assemblies to elect representatives who are then sent to the assemblies that affect a larger number of people. The mediation between the producer and consumer associations should be done by a group that should also have the right to propose if the wishes and offers diverge.

Balanced field of work

Everyone should have to do both interesting and monotonous work. The work is therefore divided into "balanced work areas" and in a company every worker has the same share of interesting as well as monotonous work. Anyone who has done monotonous work over a longer period of time is accordingly entitled to a longer period of interesting work. Since the work in certain branches can be more pleasant than in other branches, the workers in these "more pleasant" branches should be used as compensation for unpleasant collective work. On average, the jobs should be comparable in terms of their attractiveness; this is to prevent a class society from forming. As a result, everyone is motivated to perform their task in such a way that it serves the general interest, because when Parecon works, you can also endure the average effort and are no more comfortable than others.

Reward after effort

It is rewarded after exertion, and less attractive work should be rewarded higher. Road sweeping, for example, should be rewarded higher if it is less attractive than computer programming. The moral reason behind this is that the latter can be creative and exciting work for people. Nor does a higher education necessarily justify a higher wage. The reason for this is that every degree is more interesting and more fun than working as a street sweeper for the same time - so the sacrifice of the street sweeper is greater than that of the student and the completion of the training does not justify higher wages. And even if studying required more sacrifice, a lifelong massively higher wage would hardly be justified.

Summary

These four principles should be applied with a minimum of hierarchy and the greatest possible openness in discussions and decision-making processes, for example with the help of a wiki , in order to come to a decision step by step.

In this model there is no need for secret decisions, since the competition takes place in the same way that Linux programmers compete - it is more of a mutual support and friendly cooperation. There is no need for secret agreements or non-free documents or software.

Similarities and differences to communism

In the rejection of private ownership of production goods and in the pursuit of a classless society , one recognizes similarities between the criticism and that of communism . The self-determination of the people - a central point at Parecon - is also a declared goal of communism. However, many who call themselves communists or Marxists want to overcome capitalism on the way to this self-determined society by establishing a centralistic and authoritarian state (which Karl Marx himself did not intend). However, parecon seeks to prevent by the balanced fields of work that - as in the socialist done States of the 20th century - a class of bureaucrats (after Michael Albert, the "coordinator class") is created, which is in comfort and power over the rest of the population.

There are some revealing historical parallels here with the dispute between Marxism and anarchism since the mid-19th century (see Marxism versus anarchism ).

Examples

Some businesses that are run according to Parecon principles:

Books

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from John Dewey and American Democracy by Robert Westbrook (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991), p. 440; quoted from Understanding Power ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (2002) by Noam Chomsky , chap. 9, footnote 16 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.understandingpower.com