Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International
Pages: 348
•
Trim: 6½ x 9¼
978-1-78348-929-9 • Hardback • October 2017 • $162.00 • (£125.00)
978-1-78348-930-5 • Paperback • October 2017 • $56.00 • (£43.00)
978-1-78348-931-2 • eBook • October 2017 • $53.00 • (£41.00)
Raphael Sassower is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He is author of The Price of Public Intellectuals (2014), Digital Exposure: Postmodern Postcapitalism (2013), Solo: Postmodern Explorations (2011) and Postcapitalism: Moving Beyond Ideology in Economic Crises (2009).
Preface / Part I: Standard Frames of Reference / 1. Abundance and Scarcity / 2. The State of Nature and the Social Contract / 3. Human Nature and the Human Condition / 4. Individual vs. Communal Property Rights / 5. Markets / 6. Economic Growth/ Part II: The Assumptions Underlying these Frames / 7. Dangerous Assumptions / 8. Useful Assumptions / / 9. Alternative Models and the Question of Scale / Part III: Current Models / 10. Contemporary Capitalisms and their Faults / 11. The Perils of Globalization / 12. Remixing and the Knockoff Economy / 13. Marketing the Sharing Economy / Part IV: Reframing Political Economy / 14. Informative Case Studies / 15. Moral Framing of Political Economy / Epilogue / Bibliography
Sassower’s study is excitingly elementary: it revitalizes the familiar basics of economics. The ideas of Adam Smith and of Karl Marx are still important and fresh, Sassower says, due to their firm root in the philosophies of their times. These he replaces with a new, critical philosophy, while retaining the basic quest of economic theory: abolishing hunger and creating abundance.
— Joseph Agassi, Emeritus Professor, Tel-Aviv University and York University, Toronto
Sassower weaves together strands of Marxism, Popperianism and postmodernism to offer an original, practical and hopeful approach to how we—citizens, thinkers and students—might enact collective prosperity. Such prosperity comes from our desire to improve the human condition. With singular clarity and directness, Sassower argues convincingly for new commitments —philosophical, social and political—in service to our collective flourishing.
— James Collier, Associate Professor of Science and Technology, Virginia Tech
Raphael Sassower systematically analyzes the modern economic system: not just the systems that provide the mechanic function of capitalism but the very metric by which success and failure are measured. By interrogating the notion of “Prosperity” Sassower identifies and begins to fill a gap that emerges from employing established units of measure in an evolving economic context.
— Michael Sawyer, Assistant Professor, Colorado College
- Responds to the demand to question received wisdom in political economy by tackling assumptions at the heart of its key concepts
- offers students apparatus in 4 parts to navigate, critically analyse and map out future applications of political economy
- Written by an established and well-respected author who has taught political economy and philosophy courses for many years