Beyond Capitalism I
New Left Review, 2025
In the first installment of a major two-part essay, Aaron Benanav develops a framework for democratic economic planning as an alternative to capitalist markets. He critiques the "single-criterion" logic of capitalism—efficiency and profit—and proposes a multi-criteria economy centered on social and ecological well-being. This approach addresses the core problem of capitalism collapsing all social values into a single monetary metric. Drawing on the history of socialist thought from Neurath to Keynes, Benanav argues that the solution lies in the socialization of the investment function. By shifting control over capital allocation from private firms to democratic bodies, society can prioritize competing social goods—such as labor reduction, environmental sustainability, and social equity—to effectively break the "market-dependency" of social life.
Comment from our editors:
In this contribution, Aaron Benanav provides a vital theoretical roadmap for moving beyond the "single-criterion" logic of market efficiency toward a democratic, multi-criteria economy. By focusing on the socialization of investment, he offers a rigorous alternative to both state-command models and market-dependent socialism, making a compelling case for a transition based on social and ecological well-being. This piece is essential for those seeking to understand how the structural "market-dependency" of our lives can be dismantled through institutional innovation.