We outline here, what we need to address the major problems of our time. We specify the plan, how you can contribute and how you can benefit.
How to Make a Difference The greatest challenges of our time threaten our species and our planet. What remedy? We do what our species has always done to survive, we cooperate (Harari, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2022).
Make a Difference
Imagine if the best of human ingenuity was focused on solving problems, rather than walking by, or worse, being manipulated into exploiting them, or being stifled by the effects. Economic Democracy provides the means to structure cooperation into decision-making about what we produce, how we produce it, and how the produce is distributed. It provides the means to marshall the best of our abilities, from the greatest number of people. The greatest opportunities to contribute to problem solving are provided, they are built into the structure, rather than arriving or not, on an ad hoc basis.
We can, and must, develop democratic economic and social relationships that further our collective and individual interests. The current development of Artificial Intelligence makes economic democratisation both urgent and imperative (Kasy, 2023; Acemoglu & Johnson, 2023). Cooperation is the reason that our species dominates the planet and is not yet extinct (Harari, 2015; Bowles & Gintis, 2011) and it is the best prospect for our continued survival (Harari, 2016, 2018, 2022). |
Historically, the bases of political power, have shifted from physical or military strength, to accident of birth, to possession of scarce skills, to geographical location, to gameship, to gerrymandered position, and finally, to the more rational struggling towards democracy. Where should power properly lie? Resource development involves two aspects: production and consumption. It is only fitting that these fundamental, irreducible interests of human beings become the fundamental organizing principles of society. This is where true sovereignty lies and forms the bedrock of a genuinely democratic society. Political democracy is not merely a travesty, although it has regrettably devolved into one, it acts as a precursor to a future society built on genuine democratic principles.
Economic Democracy and economic justice lean together in the same direction towards human fulfilment. Cooperatives are the institutional form of Economic Democracy. Ultimately what they produce, are lives worth living. 
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Why We Need Democracy
Democracy is essential for quality assurance within a society. It serves as the feedback loop through which a society learns about itself. A society that fails to learn about its own shortcomings cannot effectively help itself. Without a clear understanding of the problems, they cannot be adequately addressed. This is why oligarchy is not sustainable.
A society without democracy is akin to an individual without a conscience—it becomes psychopathic. Why do such societies fail? Because, like psychopaths, they lack the ability to feel or sense. They cannot accurately diagnose their ailments and therefore cannot heal themselves. They struggle to relate to individuals because they lack knowledge and understanding of them. They lack judgment, due to a lack of empathy. Such societies cannot truly elevate humanity, only manipulate it as an exploitable tool fashioning the invisible suit for the Emperor's vanity. |
Production decisions are adrift from human needs, and no fictioning about the hidden hand of the market can connect them. The hidden hand is the power of what money can bribe and buy, while the hands of the poor are underutilised, unfulfilled and empty. We produce infinite supplies of cruel unneeded means of destruction, while immense needs for sustenance, health and shelter, remain unmet. Voracious non-productive financialisation colonises vast economic resources that could be deployed to improve mortality and quality of life. Economic Democracy is the only mechanism that we have to connect production decisions with people's needs, in a manner that cannot be distorted, corrupted or subverted. It provides the setting where everyone gets to benefit from the best that each of us can produce. Insofar as we have democracy, we meet our needs. Where there is a lack of democracy, our diverse needs remain unmet.
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Why the Workplace must be Democratic
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To create is to be human
To create is to be human. Our capacity for productivity and creativity is the fundamental essence of our being. Being alive means interacting with our environment and effecting change. Work not only yields tangible products but also shapes the individuals carrying out the work (Graeber, 2006). Through work we change the world and the world changes us. This process begins from the moment of our conception and continues to infinity. We are born to become. Creativity inherently involves problem-solving, yet the confines of traditional employment stifle the world's creative potential. It is no wonder that we find ourselves in the current state of affairs. Einstein working as a Patent Clerk, is the metaphor, for partially wasted talent, but it was not entirely a waste of time, work exposed him to patents that would have stimulated his creativity and problem- solving skills. Work provides education and development throughout life, but if it is at a mediocre level, our capacity to develop as humans is stunted. One who is employed to produce widgets, becomes defined as a widget producer, limiting their access to their boundless creative capacity. Reducing us to mere employees is to suppress our humanity. The more specialized the division of labour becomes, the more our creativity and fulfilment as human beings are stifled. Individuals find themselves unable to express their true selves as they are compelled to conform to limited roles, leading them to gradually lose, or never really develop, their sense of identity. The question of "Who am I?" is met with infinite potential until one steps through the doors of the workplace, at which point people are categorised within the narrow limits of the specified role within the division of labour. One becomes categorised, a tinker, tailor, soldier or spy. While it is commonly advocated to "follow your dreams," the reality for many employees is that they exist within a system where they are expected to pursue someone else's aspirations, serve another's purpose, and contribute to someone else's benefit, to serve interests not of their choosing. People’s emotional repertoires become warped and underdeveloped. Lives are often tainted with unacknowledged envy, leading to unhealthy competition that fractures our sense of community and intimacy. Though it is often thought that competition drives the best outcomes, there is contrary evidence that intrinsic motivations will stimulate the highest levels of genuine commitment to work of quality (Hennessey & Amabile, 1998; Pink, 2010; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Deci, Connell & Ryan, 1989; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Deci, et al 2008). |
The World Economic Forum (2021) reports that record numbers of people are leaving their jobs. The World Health Organization (2019) found that “Time pressure, lack of control over work tasks, long working hours, shift work, lack of support and moral injury are important risk factors for occupational stress, burnout and fatigue among health workers.” Pew Research (2023) reports that only 67% of Americans are well satisfied with their relationship with their co-workers and 62% with their relationship with their managers, 51% are well satisfied with the day-to-day tasks at work, 49% with the benefits their employer provides, 44% with the opportunities for training/ developing new skills, 34% with how much they are paid and 33% with their opportunities for promotion at work. Gallup, reports that worldwide, only 13% of employees are ‘engaged’ at work (Crabtree, 2013). Too often, employees are made to labour under psychopathic bosses (Klaas, 2021; Babiak & Hare, 2006). The career most likely to be occupied by a psychopath is CEO (Dutton, 2012). We are suffering an epidemic of corporate destruction wreaked by psychopathic senior management (Boddy, 2011). Meta analysis of the Dark Triad (DT) personality traits- Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy- demonstrates that they are linked to counterproductivity and reductions in the quality of job performance, unless counteracted by contextual factors such as authority and culture (O'Boyle, et al, 2011). Psychopathy adversely impacts individuals, the organisation itself and externalises adverse impacts as social costs in the form of environmental damage, consumer harms, unnecessary layoffs and increased taxation burdens (Boddy, 2005a, 2005b, 2006, 2010, 2011; Sutton, 2007). In theory, economic organisations can be run by anyone who supplies one or more, of the factors of production, those who supply the land/ capital, labour, raw materials or enterprise (Dow, 2018). They can theoretically, also be run by the consumers, by anyone who is impacted by the production process, or by anyone with power to seize or requisition. The decisions can be made in a way that is democratic or autocratic. Power can be distributed hierarchically or heterarchically, as homoarchies or multiarchies. The division of labour can be specialised or provide for complex distributions of tasks. Production can serve or diminish the producers and consumers. Products can enrich our quality of life or destroy us. The distribution of the produce can be concentrated among the few or shared by the many. Continuum stretch between each of these binary poles. For the last century or so, the dominant organisations have been run by the owners of capital as autarchies, but more and more our eyes are spanning broader horizons. Organisations can nurture our abilities, or extinguish our humanity. This plan contributes to the process whereby we build organisations with more thought and deeper agency so that they might better serve our needs. |
Political Democracy Cannot Survive Without Economic Democracy
The way to return governments to democracy, is to establish democracy within the organisations that influence and control governments.
The need for Economic Democracy is crucial, indeed it needs to be the fundamental organising principle of economic activity at all levels. The American Founding Fathers were undoubtedly committed to combating and preventing tyranny, authoritarianism, despotism, and similar oppressions. They rightly believed that dividing and balancing power was the way to achieve this. However, their efforts fell short. Democracy is undermined by economic inequality (Gilens, 2012; Gilens & Page, 2014, 2017; Page, Bartels & Seawright, 2013; Hacker & Pierson, 2011). Moreover, economic inequality is increasing at an exponential rate and along with it, it brings political inequality that increasingly replaces democracy with oligarchy (Piketty, 2017; Reich, 2020b). Political democracy has been increasingly undermined by oligarchy to the point where it has become little more than a thin veil of theatre, with puppeteers pulling the strings of real power.
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The Founding Fathers endowed a democracy that was limited to the political sphere, where it cannot sustain itself. It is a castle in the air without foundations in the real. The numerous legislative actions in the US aimed at restricting voter rights are evidence of this. American academics have sent five letters to Congress, expressing concern about the state of American democracy (One Hundred Scholars of Democracy, 2021). Democracy is in grave danger (Runciman, 2018; Levitsky & Ziblatt, 2018; Parker, 2018; Klaas, 2016; Munshi, 2017; Homer-Dixon, 2021). Rigging of elections is becoming increasingly commonplace (Cheeseman & Klaas, 2018). It is widely accepted that at least since the Citizens United and Speechnow.org precedents, which sanctioned unequal financialisaton of politics, political democracy is a threadbare shield for Oligarchy (Kuhner, 2014; Formisano, 2017; Whitehouse, 2017; Gerdes, 2014; Street, 2011; Lessig, 2011; Palast, 2012). Unless the underlying economic structures of society are democratic, political democracy will not survive. Economic Democracy provides both the cultural and structural elements that can work against these adverse influences. Furthermore, economic organisations exert the greatest influence over governments. They do not vote, though through lobbying, they exert far more influence than voters. Currently they are displacing democracy with Oligarchy. The way to return governments to democracy, is to establish democracy within the organisations that influence and control governments. The Full Report: |
DGBT: transforming society
through economic democracy.
through economic democracy.