Liberal egalitarians believe that the shortcomings of capitalist market societies can be overcome with proper political regulation. In Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism Tony Smith argues that this belief is mistaken, and explains why normative social theorists should affirm socialism.

Preface List of Figures 1 Liberal Egalitarianism  Introduction  Well-being  Autonomous Agency  Access to Resources  The Development of Essential Capabilities  Democratic Will-Formation 2 Towards a Liberal Egalitarian Normative Theory of Institutions  The Household  Market Production and Distribution  The State  Civil Society: The Public Sphere and Voluntary Associations  The Regime of Global Governance 3 Misunderstandings, False Starts, Further Questions  Some Marxian Objections to Liberal Egalitarianism  Liberal Egalitarian Criticisms of Marx  Conclusion 4 The Beginning Level of Marxian Theory  The Beginning Level of Theoretical Abstraction (1): The Commodity, Value, Abstract Labour  The Beginning Level of Theoretical Abstraction (2): Money  Normative Considerations  Conclusion 5 Marx’s Concept of Capital  Marx’s Concept of Capital (1): Capital as a ‘Dominant Subject’  Ontological and Normative Implications of the General Formula of Capital  Normative Implications  Marx’s Concept of Capital (2): Capital as a ‘Pseudo-Subject’ 6 Human Flourishing and the Structural Tendencies of Capitalism  The Capital/Wage Labour Relationship  Overaccumulation Crises  Financial Crises  Environmental Crises  Severe Global Inequality and Poverty  Conclusion 7 A Liberal Egalitarian Response to the Marxian Challenge  The Critique of Economism  A Reform Agenda 8 Towards A Marxian Theory of ‘The Political’  Five Theses on the Capitalist State  A Critical Examination of Liberal Egalitarian Proposals  Conclusion 9 Competing Perspectives on Neoliberalism  A Liberal Egalitarian Narrative  Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism: A Marxian Critique of Neoliberalism  Conclusion 10 Two Modified Versions of Liberal Egalitarianism  ‘Neo-Schumpeterian’ Liberal Egalitarianism  The Normative Promise of ‘Commons-Based Peer Production’ 11 Modified Liberal Egalitarianism and the Present Moment in World History  Prospects for a New ‘Golden Age’  The Prospects of Commons-Based Peer Production  Conclusion 12 Property-Owning Democracy: A Liberal Egalitarianism Beyond Capitalism?  Property-Owning Democracy (1)  Property-Owning Democracy (2)  Property-Owning Democracy (3) 13 Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism  The Argument Thus Far  Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism Bibliography Index