IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/revepe/v4y2023i3d10.1007_s43253-023-00096-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

There's no such thing as 'the economy', stupid: using Utopia to imagine society 'after money'

Author

Listed:
  • Ruth Levitas

    (University of Bristol)

Abstract

This paper uses qualitative sociological modelling to assess the transformative potential of Modern Monetary Theory as set out in recent work by Stephanie Kelton and Mariana Mazzucato. The starting point is Ruth Levitas’s (2013) Utopia as Method. This defines and develops Utopia as an exploratory, speculative sociological method characterised by a holistic and ecologically embedded approach. This is then used to explore the potential of MMT for envisioning social transformation. The paper argues that the neglect of unpaid work and a commitment to economic growth undermines the radical potential of MMT, as does the abstraction of ‘the economy’ from a wider understanding of social structures and processes. It suggests also that the project to use MMT to reform capitalism is fundamentally flawed since there is a conflict between the compound growth on which capitalism depends and the environmental imperatives that both Kelton and Mazzucato acknowledge.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruth Levitas, 2023. "There's no such thing as 'the economy', stupid: using Utopia to imagine society 'after money'," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 467-479, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:revepe:v:4:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s43253-023-00096-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s43253-023-00096-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43253-023-00096-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s43253-023-00096-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ingrid Robeyns, 2019. "What, if Anything, is Wrong with Extreme Wealth?," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 251-266, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hanno Pahl & Manuel Scholz-Wäckerle & Jens Schröter, 2023. "Envisioning post-capitalist utopias via simulation: Theory, critique and models," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 445-465, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Agni Kalfagianni & Simon Meisch, 2020. "Epistemological and ethical understandings of access and allocation in Earth System Governance: a 10-year review of the literature," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 203-221, June.
    2. Hecht, Katharina & Savage, Mike & Summers, Kate, 2022. "Why isn’t there more support for progressive taxation of wealth? A sociological contribution to the wider debate," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120793, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Jan Vandemoortele, 2021. "The open‐and‐shut case against inequality," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 39(1), pages 135-151, January.
    4. Matías Strehl Pessina, 2022. "Sectores de altos ingresos y preferencias por redistribución," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 22-15, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    5. Davis, Abigail & Hecht, Katharina Maria & Burchardt, Tania & Gough, Ian Roger & Hirsch, Donald & Rowlingson, Karen & Summers, Katherine Elizabeth, 2020. "Living on different incomes in London: can public consensus identify a 'riches line'?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121513, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Ingrid Robeyns & Vincent Buskens & Arnout Rijt & Nina Vergeldt & Tanja Lippe, 2021. "How Rich is Too Rich? Measuring the Riches Line," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 115-143, February.
    7. Tania Burchardt & Abigail Davis & Ian Gough & Katharina Hecht & Donald Hirsch & Karen Rowlingson & Kate Summers, 2020. "Living on Different Incomes in London: Can public consensus identify a 'riches line'?," CASE Reports casereport127, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    8. repec:osf:socarx:akq89_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Mundaca, Luis & Wamsler, Christine, 2025. "Engaging high-income earners in climate action: Policy insights from survey experiments," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    10. Gough, Ian & Horn, Stefan & Rogers, Charlotte & Tunstall, Rebecca, 2024. "Fair decarbonisation of housing in the UK: a sufficiency approach," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122477, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Gough, Ian, 2023. "Sufficiency as a value standard: from preferences to needs," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120465, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Martín Leites & Xavier Ramos & Cecilia Rodríguez & Vilá Joan, 2022. "Intergenerational mobility along the income distribution: estimates using administrative data for a developing country," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 22-05, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    13. De Rosa, Mauricio & Flores, Ignacio & Morgan, Marc, 2024. "More unequal or not as rich? Revisiting the Latin American exception," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    14. François, Martin & Mertens de Wilmars, Sybille & Maréchal, Kevin, 2023. "Unlocking the potential of income and wealth caps in post-growth transformation: A framework for improving policy design," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    15. Bärnthaler, Richard & Gough, Ian, 2023. "Provisioning for sufficiency: envisaging production corridors," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119420, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:revepe:v:4:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s43253-023-00096-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.