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In Finnland the governement started a project where2000 unemployed people get 560euro each month for two years, to see if the conccept of unconditional basic income works. Do you think this will change something? 

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In Finnland the governement started a project where2000 unemployed people get 560euro each month for two years, to see if the conccept of unconditional basic income works. Do you think this will change something? 

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You claim that the environment of future generations is threatened because of the ongoing growth in material production. So you suggest an anti-consumerist economy. I wonder how this could work in our societies, because so many people define their personalities through their material possessions. Do you have specific ideas how to minimize the urge of possessing material goods and therefore how to minimize consumption?

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I noticed the similar wording in the title of a book edited by Chris Spannos (Real Utopia – Participatory Society for the 21st Century, 2008, AK Press). What is your take on that book and its concept? What is similar to yours, what is different (e.g. where they come from, what they consider as desired, their focus,…. compared to yours)?

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urban citizenship in the frame of real utopias

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urban citizenship in the frame of real utopias

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For two years now in New York City all inhabitants including undocumented immigrants are entitled to an identification card that can e.g. be used to identify to the police or open a savings account. The urban citizenship movement sees this IDNYC not only as a legal right but also as a social process enabling people to claim their rights. Would you regard this institution as a desired alternative within your concept of real utopias? Why or in how far and under which conditions?

source: Henrik Lebuhn (2016): “Ich bin New York”. Bilanz des kommunalen Personalausweises in New York City, Luxemburg 2/2016

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Maybe you are familiar with chomskys and hermans concept of "manufacturing consent". It emphasizes the role that the media plays in withholding power through propaganda even in western democracies. What role does the media play in your theory of real utopias, especially when it comes to transformation? Do you see them as an obstacle that has to be overcome or can they also be helpful? 

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Maybe you are familiar with chomskys and hermans concept of "manufacturing consent". It emphasizes the role that the media plays in withholding power through propaganda even in western democracies. What role does the media play in your theory of real utopias, especially when it comes to transformation? Do you see them as an obstacle that has to be overcome or can they also be helpful? 

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If you take a look at the situation in Venezuela do you still think that capitalism is a problem? In other words, would you also criticize the socialism of the 21st century as you do it with capitalism?

What do you think about the role of political power and elites when it comes to inequalities in whatever form?

In your chapter: whats so bad about capitalism, you talk about the role/ connection of capitalism,  imperialism and militarism? Can you be more precise what you mean because i think this combination is very interesting.

Julia Bromirski

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I have no time on friday - maybe someone can ask him for me? 

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I have no time on friday - maybe someone can ask him for me? 

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You analyze capitalism according to the three moral principles equality, democracy and sustainability, which very much seemed to me like a modern version of the slogan “freedom, equality and brotherhood”, that was one of the leading principles of the French revolution. I am sure it took a lot of thought to determine suitable criteria according to which you could categorize these principles. Even still I could not help wondering, why you did not mention rationality/science and common welfare as further principals. It is necessary to express that rationality and sustainability are far from the same thing, which also applies to common welfare and democracy

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In the article “Transforming Capitalism through Real Utopias“ you describe 3 moral principles of judging existing institutions and social structures. We have been discussing equality and the difference between equal access and equal opportunity. In your diagnoses and critique you say: “Hight-income earners can substitute expensive, good quality private goods for the absence of public goods” (S.6) with the examples of education and health. You concluded, that the US provides equal opportunities, however, not necessarily equal access. We wonder how you think that central Europe (Austria, Germany) stacks up in that respect. Do you think the dominantly state run system here gets us maybe a bit closer to your “Real Utopia” or is it simply not applicable?Article: Wright (2012): Transforming Capitalism through Real Utopias. In: American Sociological Review 78, I (2013) S. 1-25.

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In the article “Transforming Capitalism through Real Utopias“ you describe 3 moral principles of judging existing institutions and social structures. We have been discussing equality and the difference between equal access and equal opportunity. In your diagnoses and critique you say: “Hight-income earners can substitute expensive, good quality private goods for the absence of public goods” (S.6) with the examples of education and health. You concluded, that the US provides equal opportunities, however, not necessarily equal access. We wonder how you think that central Europe (Austria, Germany) stacks up in that respect. Do you think the dominantly state run system here gets us maybe a bit closer to your “Real Utopia” or is it simply not applicable?Article: Wright (2012): Transforming Capitalism through Real Utopias. In: American Sociological Review 78, I (2013) S. 1-25.

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Do I correctly understand you to say that adapting a different kind of economic system other than capitalism would result in adapting a different form of state (as the present democratic structure that it is experienced in the Western First World seems to be strongly linked to capitalism) as well? What would be suitable economic and political aspirations for instigating such new forms of society and how could these eventually be structured as an interim result of social development?

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How intensely do you yourself believe in an actual, practical feasibility of those utopian structures illustrated in your works?
Or are they rather to be seen as a personal catalogue of suggestions and a means of creating public awareness on a broader range?

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Do you think that capitalism is a bigger threat for democracy than rassism and xenophobia?

and:

When we think about overcoming capitalism: Will it be a top-down-intervention by politics and government or rather a bottom-up-movement by people in rethinking our behaviour and our way of living and consuming?
Do you prefer one of these two possibilities?
Which one seems to be more successful?

Michaela Dimmel

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Questions - I won't be able to join the Skype Meeting but maybe someone wants to ask my questions?

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Questions - I won't be able to join the Skype Meeting but maybe someone wants to ask my questions?

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1.)
You wrote in your book that for you it seems most promising to link symbiotic transformation with transformation that takes place in spaces where alternatives can be established. You also wrote that the first option seems to happen within social democratic policies and the second one is often linked to anarchism. As soon as I read this, I had tot hink about the social democratic party in Austria and their policies and the autonomous antifascist groups and their actions and I really can’t imagine these stakeholders working together because of their values and goals: the first ones want to make the state and capitalism less awful, the second ones want to abolish both. Don’t you think these ideologies are pretty contrarian and it might not work out to use them together to overcome capitalism?

2.)

I really would love to ask you, why equality, sustainability and democracy are the ideals for you when it comes to real utopias. Did you develop these ideals theoretically? Or did you include some everyday life experiences of people in this development? And if so, which people and which experiences did you include? Don’t you think that, for example, your understanding of democracy or sustainability isn’t proper for some other people and it might be necessary to work out a consensus as broad as possible together with as many people as possible?

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What if democratic procedures lead to non-democratic results?
Is democracy a "real utopia"

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Questions to Eric Olin Wright