ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how, in a future post-growth eco-socialist society, democratic and participatory social planning can address the social, ecological, economic and political challenges facing the world. The capitalist system produces both social injustice and ecological degradation, which together and separately give rise to social economic struggles and ecological conflicts. Since the political economy of capitalist structures depends on capital accumulation and economic growth, continuing resource depletion and environmental degradation without limit are inevitable. Attempts to make the capitalist system ‘Greener’ are futile when it comes to dealing with ecological pressures, given that the development of Green technology itself provides a new domain for further capital accumulation. Furthermore, the capitalist system necessarily creates inequalities and social conflict, which interact with ecological conflicts among different groups within and/or among nation States. Fortunately, another world is possible, a post-growth eco-socialist world, based on social ownership and participatory planning. The rest of this chapter sets out the institutional architecture and social processes on which such a society might be based.
