After capitalism

PROUT, Progressive Utilization Theory, is the framework for this book, and the proposed tool to shape society "After Capitalism." The economist Paul Erdman described another book on PROUT as “a strange mixture of voodoo historical theories and sound economic analysis.” Add a comma after "voodoo," and I think that works for this one, as well.


Voodoo (or just woo):
Materialism as most people use the word today, greed for material wealth and success measured by material accumulation, is a natural consequence of the rise of philosophical materialism, the belief that matter is all there is. This is what has lead us to the current Capitalist world order. Primitive spiritualism can fill the void in our existence that we currently fill with stuff. As we move away from materialism, a conflation of the economic and the philosophical variety, the path to a sustainable future where we live in harmony with nature opens up.

Historical theories:
There are four (arche)types, or classes, of human beings: laborers, warriors, intellectuals and merchants. Their labels, and to a certain degree their description, is borrowed from Hinduism, it seems. The grand narrative explains all of history as a cycle where these types take turns being the dominant type. (The dial is currently firmly lodged in the capitalist/merchant position, if you were in doubt.) To placate Mark Twain, who famously insisted history doesn't repeat itself, it merely rhymes, the cycle viewed in 3D is actually a spiral. We’re not going back to what was before after the revolution, we just go back to having the worker type dominate. As history progresses/revolves, we will from time to time be blessed with a few ‘Übermenschen’ who are a perfect mix of the four archetypes. These “enlightened moralists,” Sadvipras, will accelerate social progress whenever the wheel gets stuck because the dominant class has become corrupted.


Economic analysis:
PROUT wants an end to the capitalist world domination, an end to governments in Western democracies only representing the 1%, an end to the ruthless exploitation of the poor by the rich, and an end to the exploitation of "Mother Earth."
Economic democracy in a decentralized economy where cooperatives replace corporations, is the remedy. Small private initiatives are also envisioned to play a part, while large infrastructure elements like roads and railroads will be state owned.

I am unsure how to rate this book. The reason I picked up this book is my interest in theories on economic democracy and cooperatives/worker-self directed enterprises. The vision for the future in this book is pretty close to other accounts I've read on the subject (After Capitalism by Schweickart and Democracy at Work by Wolff), and I really like this vision.
I am allergic to woo, though, and this book gave me plenty of hives with its spiritualism, universal consciousness, homeopathy, naturopathy and general "holistic" approach.

As religion goes, this isn't so bad, though, and our goals seem to be very similar. I prefer the other accounts I've read to this one, but… three stars? Yeah, lets give it three stars.