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Gabriele Michalitsch
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Culminating in the current economic crisis, neoliberal restructuring has led to growing social
disintegration and increasing
exclusion from societal participation. This indicates a profound
social and a latent political crisis,
as reflected by, partly tremendous, electoral gains of the extreme right in many European
countries. Reawakening nationalisms and increasing
xenophobia, racism, Islamophobia and sexism characterise present developments in European societies and undermine their democratic fundamentals.
They challenge the present system of power and
dominance and, in this way, show the urgency of a
renewal of political economy.
The reformist perspective of renewal I will briefly
sketch out in this contribution, though remaining
within a capitalist framework, aims at comprehensive societal inclusion by minimising social divisions and hierarchies. Taking the existing order of
society as its starting point, it offers a possible path
of re-orientation for social democracy towards solidarity as a guiding principle of social order and,
simultaneously, towards a profound democratisation of society. It describes a step-by-step restructuring of the regulatory framework of capitalism
which relies on markets, but subordinates them to
politics. Economic prosperity is not regarded as a
goal of its own, but as a means to a good life, which
involves provision for material as well as non-material needs. By non-material needs I refer, first of
all, to self-determined free time, allowing to escape
the permanent economic tribunal of competition,
economic success and fear of failure, offering time
for oneself and for others time for social relations
as a prerequisite of solidarity and political engagement, and finally opening life perspectives beyond
market usability. I will focus on two closely related
and intrinsically overlapping dimensions of renewal
that seem, alongside with strict global regulation of
financial markets (Tobin tax) and reforms of institutional representation (involvement of unemployed
and precariously employed, transparency vis-a-vis
growing informalisation of decision-making), crucial to me: socio-economic policies and economic
knowledge and discourse.
Socio-Economic Policies
Alongside broad public debate on the recognition of
activities as work, a general and radical reduction
of work hours and the equal distribution of gainful employment as well as unpaid care work might
serve as starting points for a profound revision of
wage-structures by re-valuating work according
to societal necessities and for the establishment of
minimum as well as maximum income levels. A
step-by-step reduction of weekly work hours to 30
could be combined with wage adjustments based
on solidarity, implying an increase of low wages and
a decrease of wages above for example 3500 Euro.
The redistribution of work between the genders,
furthermore, involves extensive gender equality
measures with regard to gainful employment, orientation towards gender parity in all occupations and
continuous initiatives against gender stereotypes
and sexism. Obligatory quotas with respect to all
leading positions (from medium level upwards) in
enterprises, public administration and politics certainly are important instruments in this context.
Furthermore, equal access to social security, especially health care, must be guaranteed to all permanent residents. And so does some basic income
above the subsistence level not conceptualised
http://www.social-europe.eu/2010/11/solidarity-and-democracy-a-new-political-economy/
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12/11/2010
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Related posts:
1. Making Participation an Essential Element
of the New Political Economy
2. French Protestors Fly the Flag for a New
Political Economy
3. Characteristics, Problems and Drivers of
Solidarity
Filed Under: Capitalism, Good Society Debate, Governance, Political Economy, Social Democracy,
Social Policy, Well-Being Tagged With: capitalism,
democratisation of society, discourse, Gabriele Mi-
http://www.social-europe.eu/2010/11/solidarity-and-democracy-a-new-political-economy/
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12/11/2010
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Gabriele Michalitsch, a political scientist and economist, is currently working at the Department of
Political Science at Vienna University. During the
last years she was visiting professor at Corvinus
University (Budapest), Graz University (Austria), and
Yeditepe Univerity (Istanbul). From 2002-05 she was
chair of the Council of Europes group of experts
on Gender Budgeting. Main research topics: neoliberalism, political economy, feminist economics.
http://www.social-europe.eu/2010/11/solidarity-and-democracy-a-new-political-economy/
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