Michael Albert (born April 8, 1947) is an American economist, speaker, writer, and political critic. Since the late 1970s, he has published on a variety of subjects. He has set up his own media outfits, magazines, and podcasts. He is known for helping to develop the

socioeconomic Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

theory of

participatory economics Participatory economics, often abbreviated parecon, is an economic system based on participatory decision making as the primary economic mechanism for allocation in society. In the system, the say in decision-making is proportional to the impa ...

Biography

Albert was born in New York City and grew up in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...

. In 1965, Albert was studying

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

. He objected to the US military's funding of the university. This, along with the civil rights movement, led Albert to become politically active. He became a member of Students for a Democratic Society and opposed the Vietnam War. He was expelled from MIT, in January 1970, for disruptive behaviour, although he claimed the charges were 'cooked-up'. Albert founded

South End Press South End Press was a non-profit book publisher run on a model of participatory economics. It was founded in 1977 in Boston's South End. It published books written by political activists, notably Arundhati Roy, Noam Chomsky, bell hooks, Win ...

in 1977 along with Lydia Sargent and Juliet Schor, among others. In 1987, Albert founded ''Zeta Magazine'' with Sargent. The magazine focused on libertarian and anarchist socialist thought. It was renamed ''Z Magazine'' in 1989. In 1990–91, Albert and Robin Hahnel worked on outlining their ideas around participatory economics. They published ''Looking Forward'' and ''The Political Economy of Participatory Economics'', with the latter including an

economic model An economic model is a theoretical construct representing economic processes by a set of variables and a set of logical and/or quantitative relationships between them. The economic model is a simplified, often mathematical, framework designed ...

of the system. Doug Brown, writing in the

Journal of Economic Issues The ''Journal of Economic Issues'' is an academic journal of economics. The current editor-in-chief is William Waller (Hobart and William Smith Colleges). It is published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Association for Evolutionary Economics ...

said their alternative to markets was novel, but mainly of academic interest. By 1995, the organisation ''Z Magazine'' had branched out providing online content and media training. Along with the magazine the ventures are collectively known as '' Z Communications''. In 2003, ''Parecon: Life After Capitalism'' was published further outlining participatory economics in a more accessible, less academic format. The book was translated into 20 languages. Reviewing the book Paul Ormerod felt Albert's criticisms of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

were unfounded. Albert spoke at the World Social Forum in the same year. He spoke at European Social Forum in 2004. Albert was a founding member of the International Organization for a Participatory Society, in 2012. Sean Michael Wilson created a comic book based on Albert and his ideas in 2013.

Beliefs

Albert identifies himself as a market abolitionist and believes markets should be replaced with

Criticism

In 2006, David Schweickart wrote a detailed critique of participatory economics called ''Nonsense on Stilts: Michael Albert's Parecon''. He claimed three fundamental features of the economic system are flawed.

Bibliography

* ''What Is To Be Undone?'', (1974) * ''Stop the Killing Train: Radical Visions for Radical Change'', (1994) * ''Thinking Forward: Learning To Conceptualize Economic Vision'', (1997) * ''Moving Forward: Program for a Participatory Economy'', (2001) * ''The Trajectory of Change: Activist Strategies for Social Transformation'', (2002) * ''Parecon: Life After Capitalism'', (2003)

Verso ''Recto'' is the "right" or "front" side and ''verso'' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper () in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet. In double-sided printing, each leaf h ...

* ''Thought Dreams: Radical Theory for the 21st Century'', (2003)

* ''Realizing Hope: Life beyond Capitalism'', (2006) * ''Remembering Tomorrow: From SDS to Life After Capitalism, A Memoir'', (2007) Seven Stories Press * ''Occupy Theory'' (2013) * ''Occupy Vision'' (2013) * ''Occupy Strategy'' (2013) * ''Practical Utopia: Strategies for a Desirable Society'', preface by

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

(2017) PM Press/Kairos * ''No bosses'' (2021)

Co-authored

* ''Unorthodox Marxism'', with R. Hahnel (1978) * ''Socialism Today and Tomorrow'', with R. Hahnel (1981) * ''Marxism and Socialist Theory'', with R. Hahnel (1981) * ''Liberating Theory'', with Holly Sklar, Lydia Sargent, Mel King, Robin Hahnel, Noam Chomsky and Leslie Cagan (1986) * ''Talking about a Revolution: Interviews with Michael Albert, Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich, Bell Hooks, Peter Kwong, Winona LaDuke, Manning Marable, Urvashi Vaid, Howard Zinn'' (1998) * ''Quiet Revolution in Welfare Economics'', with R. Hahnel (1990) Princeton University Press, * ''Looking Forward: Participatory Economics for the Twenty First Century'', with R. Hahnel (1990) * ''The Political Economy of Participatory Economics'', with R. Hahnel (1991)

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

References