Socialism and technology: A sectoral overview

Abstract

This chapter aims to demonstrate that both for the economy as a whole and for each of its sectors, it is possible to outline the main features of current capitalist practice, the implicit requirements for a socialist alternative, and the degree to which the conditions for satisfying these requirements are already present. In short, a society-wide shift to cleaner and more sustainable technologies is already conceivable. The distinctive contribution of socialism lies not in any particular inventions that might emerge but rather in the reorganisation of society in such a way that technological choices are no longer made on the basis of marketability and profit-potential, but rather on the basis of compatibility with the overall requirements of humanity and the natural world. There is nothing 'inevitable' about such a socialist transformation; nonetheless, what works in favour of this constructive response is the emerging reco-gnition that doing nothing-letting current trends run their course-spells disaster. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.