ABSTRACT
This chapter examines alternative theoretical approaches to economic democracy, political democracy and distributive justice, including an analysis of collective choice, social contract theory, Marxian analysis and libertarian theory. Impossibility theorems of social choice theory illustrate the complexities of moving from individual preferences to collective preferences regarding economic and political democracy. The chapter shows that Rawls’ highly aggregative social contract theory can be extended to the micro level of productive units consistent with both worker participation at the firm level and a variety of ownership structures other than the big capitalist corporation. The chapter also examines various criteria of a renewed economic democracy agenda that incorporate important themes such as the meaning of work, democratic ownership, new forms of social participation by a broad range of social classes, ethnic groups and different genders. The chapter contrasts views skeptical about the possibility of economic democracy in capitalism (Marxian) with critics of economic democracy (from conservative libertarian perspectives).
