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The Challenges of the New Social Democracy
Social Capital and Civic Association or Class Struggle?
Series: - Studies in Critical Social Sciences, Volume: 259
Raju J Das, Jamie Gough and Aram Eisenschitz provide a Marxist critique of new social democracy as the dominant contemporary strategy for local economic and social development. In both the global North and South, new social democracy seeks to develop social capital, strengthen civil society, build not-for-pro¬fit enterprises, encourage self-help, and foster community ties. It seeks participatory forms of local politics to achieve a local class consensus. It promises to improve people's economic and social conditions in the face of neoliberal capitalism, and to empower them. The authors argue that this strategy is severely limited by, and internalises, its capitalist environment. They show that social enterprise can be developed in socialist ways, and contribute to a local politics based in class struggle. But social capital cannot replace the struggle of the exploited and oppressed against capitalism and for a socialist society, a strategy which the authors outline for the local scale.
Raju J. Das, Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, is Professor at York University, Toronto. His research interests include Marxist political economy. His recent books include Marxist Class Theory for a Skeptical World, Marxâs Capital, Capitalism and Limits to the State.
Aram Eisenschitz teaches at the Business School, Middlesex University, UK. His research interests include spatial political economy, urban planning and tourism. He and Jamie Gough are the authors of The Politics of Local Economic Policy and Spaces of Social Exclusion.
Jamie Gough, Ph.D., taught at Sheffield University. His research interests include spatial political economy, local and national societies, theories of economic crisis, dynamics of the labour process, social reproduction, and poverty. He is author of Work, Locality and the Rhythms of Capital.
Aram Eisenschitz teaches at the Business School, Middlesex University, UK. His research interests include spatial political economy, urban planning and tourism. He and Jamie Gough are the authors of The Politics of Local Economic Policy and Spaces of Social Exclusion.
Jamie Gough, Ph.D., taught at Sheffield University. His research interests include spatial political economy, local and national societies, theories of economic crisis, dynamics of the labour process, social reproduction, and poverty. He is author of Work, Locality and the Rhythms of Capital.
"The book provides a robust Marxist critique of what the authors term the ânew social democracyâ. [...] The authors critique this shift as a response to the global economic crises of the 1970s and the rise of neoliberalism, arguing that it internalizes many neoliberal tropes while offering minimal benefits to the working class. [...] By focusing on small-scale, localized solutions, these approaches risk perpetuating self-exploitation and reinforcing neoliberal norms rather than challenging them. [...] The authors argue that this approach offers a more effective and sustainable path toward addressing the challenges posed by global capitalism and neoliberalism." â V.Kalyani, in: Capital & Class, Vol. 49, Issue 2 (2025), pp. 381-392
Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables
1âIntroduction
ââRaju J. Das, Jamie Gough and Aram Eisenschitz
2âAssociationism: the New Social Democracy from Below
ââJamie Gough
3âSocial Capital and Class: a Critical Theoretical Examination
ââRaju J. Das
4âSocial Capital in the Spaces of Civil Society
ââRaju J. Das
5âSocial Capital at the Zone of Interaction between the State and Civil Society
ââRaju J. Das
6âThe Social Economy and Socialist Strategy
ââAram Eisenschitz and Jamie Gough
7âRooting Working Class Struggle in Locality, and Taking It beyond
ââJamie Gough and Aram Eisenschitz
Index
List of Figures and Tables
1âIntroduction
ââRaju J. Das, Jamie Gough and Aram Eisenschitz
2âAssociationism: the New Social Democracy from Below
ââJamie Gough
3âSocial Capital and Class: a Critical Theoretical Examination
ââRaju J. Das
4âSocial Capital in the Spaces of Civil Society
ââRaju J. Das
5âSocial Capital at the Zone of Interaction between the State and Civil Society
ââRaju J. Das
6âThe Social Economy and Socialist Strategy
ââAram Eisenschitz and Jamie Gough
7âRooting Working Class Struggle in Locality, and Taking It beyond
ââJamie Gough and Aram Eisenschitz
Index
Third Year undergarduate students, post-graduate students and academics with an interest in forms of economic organisation, economic policy, local economies and social life and policies towards them, community studies, local politics, poverty, and scales of society. Political activist intellectuals, particularly those in trade unions, community development, ecological movements, and left political groups.