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On Contemporary Eco-socialism

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Eco-socialism as Politics

Abstract

The chapter aims to offer a critical appraisal of contemporary eco-socialism in the West. As a radical homocentric (not ecocentric) application of socialist analysis and prescriptions to environmentalism, a major development for eco-socialism in recent years is that it is more willing to acknowledges the complexity of the modern globalising world and thus to move away from that crude economism which has disillusioned many would-be Marxist theorists and practitioners in the past. A further development in eco-socialism has been growing interest in manifestations of the practical side of eco-socialist theory and envisioning, constructing alternatives to capitalism which are dominated by social and environmental considerations and by the principle of production for social need rather than profit through consumerism. These alternative forms are diverse and together form a community economy of alternative spaces within capitalism, although the transgressive potential of such ‘transitional forms’ could perhaps be limited making see notes above them become a force for the status quo.

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Pepper, D. (2010). On Contemporary Eco-socialism. In: Huan, Q. (eds) Eco-socialism as Politics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3745-9_3

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