Responding to hayek from the left: Beyond market socialism on the path to a radical economic democracy

Abstract

Important challenge to traditional versions of socialism. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the deepening inequities between economic elites and the broader mass of the population, neoliberal ideas have survived the recent economic crisis remarkably intact (Crouch 2011; Mirowski 2013), largely because they continue to serve the interests of political and economic elites. There is a growing disconnect between economic realities and mainstream discourses bringing home Gramsci’s important point about the deepening relationship between civil society and the state in the exercise of hegemonic power as capitalism becomes more advanced and complex (Gramsci 1971). Elites are often able to strengthen their position during economic crises, rather than there being an opening up to challenges from below, because of their continuing grip on the institutions of civil society and their ability to combine new coercive measures through the state (e.g., increased welfare retrenchment) with dominant meta-narratives.