Nine Theses on Twenty-First-Century Socialism*

• Published date: 01 December 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0032329220962656
• Date: 01 December 2020
• Author: Fred Block
• Subject Matter: Special Issue Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0032329220962656

Politics & Society

2020, Vol. 48(4) 553 –566

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0032329220962656

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Special Issue Article

Nine Theses on

Twenty-First-Century

Socialism*

Fred Block

University of California, Davis

Abstract

This essay, written in memory of Erik Olin Wright (1947–2019), outlines nine

characteristics of a future socialism. It elaborates socialism as a set of processes and

institutional arrangements that would open the way to a society that is radically more

democratic, more just, and more sustainable than the existing order.

Keywords

socialism, utopias, finance, reforms of capitalism, pluralism, equality

Corresponding Author:

Fred Block, Department of Sociology, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

Email: flblock@ucdavis.edu

*This essay is part of a special issue of Politics & Society celebrating and examining the life and work of

longtime board member Erik Olin Wright (1947–2019).

962656PASXXX10.1177/0032329220962656Politics & SocietyBlock

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