I am interested in the political economy of institutional power relationships in transition. The question is one of "reconstructive" communities as a cultural, as well as a political, fact: how geographic communities are structured to move in the direction of… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share Image
“But if the system is the problem, the truth is that there will not be satisfactory answers in the here and now for lots… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share Image
“… our nation's truly critical problems are built into the very structure of the economic and political system; they are not something passing in… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share Image
We've been following many forms of democratized ownership, starting with co-ops, land banks at the neighborhood level, municipal ownership and state ownership of banks… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share Image
As we move toward the pluralist commonwealth, economic interventions that stabilize communities - for instance by localizing the flows of goods and services or by promoting worker ownership - not only have immediate practical benefits but provide the necessary preconditions for the growth and development of a renewed culture of sustainable democracy that can serve as the basis for still… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share
Worker-owned co-ops, on their own, floating in the market, tend to replicate the behavior of worker-owned capitalists in some circumstances. They sometimes develop positive participatory schemes, sometimes not. We know from the studies of worker-owned plywood companies in the US, they can tend to develop conservative attitudes, not socialist attitudes. So even though I'm an advocate of further democratization of… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share
Finding ways to organize work in which people are not locked into unequal power relationships is very important. Having said that, it's not easily… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share Image
For 40 years, my argument has been that democratizing ownership of wealth has been the key to egalitarian society and the goals of egalitarian society. But you start at the local level, both at the workplace, community and other institutions and you reconstruct the egalitarian democratized structure as well as participatory structure. And as this happens, we learn more how… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share
In America, we need to go forward in nationalizing several large corporations: I think that's possible; we nationalized General Motors; we nationalized several of the big banks, de facto; we nationalized Chrysler; we nationalized AIG. I think there will be more crises, and at some point, rather than being bailed out by the government, the public may keep the corporations… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share
Parecon is a very tough-minded economic vision and model, and it sets a standard for us to look at. — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share Image
We need to learn to listen to what the people need and want and not try to impose on them a whole schema that… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share Image
There are areas using what's called the "checkerboard strategy." They are different cities where you can move around the "checkerboard," doing things you can't… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share Image
Internationally, there are countries going well beyond the course, with airlines, transportation. There are systems around the world that have explored mining, rail transport,… — Gar Alperovitz Copy Share Image
