Kevin A. Carson
Encyclopedia
Kevin Amos Carson is a American
social and political theorist and scholar of political economy
writing in the mutualist
and individualist anarchist
traditions.
Carson describes his politics as on "the outer fringes of both free market
libertarianism
and socialism
." He has identified the work of Benjamin Tucker
, Ralph Borsodi
, Lewis Mumford
and Ivan Illich
as sources of inspiration for his approach to politics and economics.
's "big four" monopolies (land, money, tariffs, and patents), Carson argues that the state
has also transferred wealth to the wealthy by subsidizing organizational centralization, in the form of transportation and communication subsidies. He believes that Tucker overlooked this issue due to Tucker's focus on individual market transactions, whereas Carson also focuses on organizational issues.
The theoretical sections of Studies in Mutualist Political Economy are presented as an attempt to integrate marginalist critiques into the labor theory of value
. Carson has also been highly critical of intellectual property
. The primary focus of his most recent work has been decentralized manufacturing and the informal and household economies.
in historical terms, emphasizing the history of state intervention in market economies. He says "[i]t is state intervention that distinguishes capitalism from the free market." He does not define capitalism in the idealized sense but says that when he talks about "capitalism" he is referring to what he calls "actually existing capitalism
." He believes that "laissez-faire capitalism, historically speaking, is an oxymoron" but has no quarrel with anarcho-capitalists who use the term and distinguish it from "actually existing capitalism."
In response to claims that he uses the term "capitalism" incorrectly, Carson says he is deliberately choosing to resurrect what he claims to be an old definition of the term in order to "make a point." He claims that "the term “capitalism,” as it was originally used, did
not refer to a free market, but to a type of statist class system in which capitalists controlled the state and the state intervened in the market on their behalf." Carson holds that “Capitalism
, arising as a new class society directly from the old class society of the Middle Ages
, was founded on an act of robbery as massive as the earlier feudal
conquest of the land. It has been sustained to the present by continual state intervention to protect its system of privilege without which its survival is unimaginable.” Carson argues that in a truly laissez-faire
system, the ability to extract a profit from labor and capital would be negligible.
Carson argues the centralization of wealth into a class hierarchy
is due to state intervention to protect the ruling class
, by using a money monopoly, granting patent
s and subsidies to corporations, imposing discriminatory taxation, and intervening militarily to gain access to international markets. Carson’s thesis is that under an authentic free market economy, the separation of labour from ownership and the subordination of labor to capital would be impossible, bringing a more egalitarian society in which most people could easily choose self-employment over wage labor (see The Iron Fist Behind The Invisible Hand).
Carson has written sympathetically about several anarcho-capitalists
, arguing that they use the word "capitalism" in a different sense than he does and that they represent a legitimate strain of anarchism. He says "most people who call themselves individualist anarchists today are followers of Murray Rothbard
's Austrian economics, and have abandoned the labor theory of value." However, with the release of his book, Studies in Mutualist Political Economy, he hopes to revive "mutualism
." In his book he attempts to synthesize Austrian economics with the labor theory of value
, or "Austrianize" it, by incorporating both subjectivism and time preference
.
term "vulgar libertarianism," a phrase that describes the use of a free market rhetoric in defense of corporate capitalism
and economic inequality
. According to Carson, the term is derived from the phrase "vulgar political economy," which Karl Marx
described as an economic order that "deliberately becomes increasingly apologetic and makes strenuous attempts to talk out of existence the ideas which contain the contradictions [existing in economic life]."
Carson writes that
Much of Carson's writing is dedicated to critiquing other writers who he perceives as being vulgar libertarians. A sporadically recurring feature on his blog is called "Vulgar Libertarian Watch." Economists and organizations that he has accused of vulgar libertarianism include Ludwig von Mises
, Milton Friedman
, Madsen Pirie
, Radley Balko
and the Adam Smith Institute
.
characterizes Carson as a Marxist
, for his embrace of labor value exploitation theory
, and argues that Carson's philosophy is full of errors, mostly due to his acceptance of the labor theory of value. "For someone in this day and age to even take this doctrine seriously, let alone actually try to defend it, is equivalent to making a similarly widely and properly rejected position vis à vis the flat earth
, or the phlogiston theory
. It is, in a word, medieval." Carson alleges that Block misrepresents many of his views and probably did not actually read his book.
Roderick T. Long criticizes Carson's claim that full private property rights do not stem from the concept of self-ownership, and presents an argument that if one accepts self-ownership, as Carson does, then non-Lockean proviso
homesteading
rights must be accepted. However, Long accepts the concept of public property as valid and writes that communities may acquire land "by collectively homesteading," which could "[provide] a basis for No-Proviso Lockeans to recognize as legitimate the property arrangements of Mutualist
, Georgist
, and Proviso-Lockean communities."
—the last the subject of a symposium in the Journal of Libertarian Studies. He has also authored Austrian and Marxist Theories of Monopoly-Capital, Contract Feudalism, The Ethics of Labor Struggle, and The Iron Fist behind the Invisible Hand.
His articles have appeared in The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, Land&Liberty
, and Just Things, and have been featured at The Art of the Possible and on the P2P Foundation blog as well as on the popular foreign policy website AntiWar.Com
. His writing on the subject of political economy
is cited by the widely read Anarchist FAQ
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
social and political theorist and scholar of political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
writing in the mutualist
Mutualism (economic theory)
Mutualism is an anarchist school of thought that originates in the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who envisioned a society where each person might possess a means of production, either individually or collectively, with trade representing equivalent amounts of labor in the free market...
and individualist anarchist
Individualist anarchism
Individualist anarchism refers to several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his or her will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but refers to a...
traditions.
Carson describes his politics as on "the outer fringes of both free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
libertarianism
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
and socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
." He has identified the work of Benjamin Tucker
Benjamin Tucker
Benjamin Ricketson Tucker was a proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:Tucker says that he became an anarchist at the age of 18...
, Ralph Borsodi
Ralph Borsodi
Ralph Borsodi was an agrarian theorist and practical experimenter interested in ways of living useful to the modern family desiring greater self-reliance...
, Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford was an American historian, philosopher of technology, and influential literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a writer...
and Ivan Illich
Ivan Illich
Ivan Illich was an Austrian philosopher, Roman Catholic priest, and "maverick social critic" of the institutions of contemporary western culture and their effects on the provenance and practice of education, medicine, work, energy use, transportation, and economic development.- Personal life...
as sources of inspiration for his approach to politics and economics.
Thought
In addition to individualist anarchist Benjamin TuckerBenjamin Tucker
Benjamin Ricketson Tucker was a proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:Tucker says that he became an anarchist at the age of 18...
's "big four" monopolies (land, money, tariffs, and patents), Carson argues that the state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
has also transferred wealth to the wealthy by subsidizing organizational centralization, in the form of transportation and communication subsidies. He believes that Tucker overlooked this issue due to Tucker's focus on individual market transactions, whereas Carson also focuses on organizational issues.
The theoretical sections of Studies in Mutualist Political Economy are presented as an attempt to integrate marginalist critiques into the labor theory of value
Labor theory of value
The labor theories of value are heterodox economic theories of value which argue that the value of a commodity is related to the labor needed to produce or obtain that commodity. The concept is most often associated with Marxian economics...
. Carson has also been highly critical of intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
. The primary focus of his most recent work has been decentralized manufacturing and the informal and household economies.
Free markets vs. capitalism
Unlike some other market anarchists, Carson defines capitalismCapitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
in historical terms, emphasizing the history of state intervention in market economies. He says "[i]t is state intervention that distinguishes capitalism from the free market." He does not define capitalism in the idealized sense but says that when he talks about "capitalism" he is referring to what he calls "actually existing capitalism
Actually existing capitalism
Actually existing capitalism or really existing capitalism is a term used mainly by anti-capitalists to refer to economies that do not fit the ideal definition of capitalism as a laissez-faire free market economic system, but have significant state intervention and partnerships between private...
." He believes that "laissez-faire capitalism, historically speaking, is an oxymoron" but has no quarrel with anarcho-capitalists who use the term and distinguish it from "actually existing capitalism."
In response to claims that he uses the term "capitalism" incorrectly, Carson says he is deliberately choosing to resurrect what he claims to be an old definition of the term in order to "make a point." He claims that "the term “capitalism,” as it was originally used, did
not refer to a free market, but to a type of statist class system in which capitalists controlled the state and the state intervened in the market on their behalf." Carson holds that “Capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, arising as a new class society directly from the old class society of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, was founded on an act of robbery as massive as the earlier feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
conquest of the land. It has been sustained to the present by continual state intervention to protect its system of privilege without which its survival is unimaginable.” Carson argues that in a truly laissez-faire
Laissez-faire
In economics, laissez-faire describes an environment in which transactions between private parties are free from state intervention, including restrictive regulations, taxes, tariffs and enforced monopolies....
system, the ability to extract a profit from labor and capital would be negligible.
Carson argues the centralization of wealth into a class hierarchy
Class hierarchy
As in taxonomy, the classifications of species, a class hierarchy in computer science is a classification of object types, denoting objects as the instantiations of classes inter-relating the various classes by relationships such as "inherits", "extends", "is an abstraction of", "an interface...
is due to state intervention to protect the ruling class
Ruling class
The term ruling class refers to the social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy - assuming there is one such particular class in the given society....
, by using a money monopoly, granting patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s and subsidies to corporations, imposing discriminatory taxation, and intervening militarily to gain access to international markets. Carson’s thesis is that under an authentic free market economy, the separation of labour from ownership and the subordination of labor to capital would be impossible, bringing a more egalitarian society in which most people could easily choose self-employment over wage labor (see The Iron Fist Behind The Invisible Hand).
Carson has written sympathetically about several anarcho-capitalists
Anarcho-capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism is a libertarian and individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state in favour of individual sovereignty in a free market...
, arguing that they use the word "capitalism" in a different sense than he does and that they represent a legitimate strain of anarchism. He says "most people who call themselves individualist anarchists today are followers of Murray Rothbard
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...
's Austrian economics, and have abandoned the labor theory of value." However, with the release of his book, Studies in Mutualist Political Economy, he hopes to revive "mutualism
Mutualism
Mutualism is the way two organisms of different species biologically interact in a relationship in which each individual derives a fitness benefit . Similar interactions within a species are known as co-operation...
." In his book he attempts to synthesize Austrian economics with the labor theory of value
Labor theory of value
The labor theories of value are heterodox economic theories of value which argue that the value of a commodity is related to the labor needed to produce or obtain that commodity. The concept is most often associated with Marxian economics...
, or "Austrianize" it, by incorporating both subjectivism and time preference
Time preference
In economics, time preference pertains to how large a premium a consumer places on enjoyment nearer in time over more remote enjoyment....
.
"Vulgar libertarianism"
Carson coined the pejorativePejorative
Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
term "vulgar libertarianism," a phrase that describes the use of a free market rhetoric in defense of corporate capitalism
Corporate capitalism
Corporate capitalism is a term used in social science and economics to describe a capitalist marketplace characterized by the dominance of hierarchical, bureaucratic corporations, which are legally required to pursue profit....
and economic inequality
Economic inequality
Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...
. According to Carson, the term is derived from the phrase "vulgar political economy," which Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
described as an economic order that "deliberately becomes increasingly apologetic and makes strenuous attempts to talk out of existence the ideas which contain the contradictions [existing in economic life]."
Carson writes that
Much of Carson's writing is dedicated to critiquing other writers who he perceives as being vulgar libertarians. A sporadically recurring feature on his blog is called "Vulgar Libertarian Watch." Economists and organizations that he has accused of vulgar libertarianism include Ludwig von Mises
Ludwig von Mises
Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises was an Austrian economist, philosopher, and classical liberal who had a significant influence on the modern Libertarian movement and the "Austrian School" of economic thought.-Biography:-Early life:...
, Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
, Madsen Pirie
Madsen Pirie
Dr Duncan Madsen Pirie, PhD is a British researcher, author, and educator. He is the founder and current President of the Adam Smith Institute, a UK think tank which has been in operation since 1978.-Early life and education:...
, Radley Balko
Radley Balko
Radley Balko is an American libertarian journalist, blogger, and speaker.- Education :Balko earned a B.A. in journalism and political science in 1997 from Indiana University.- Employment and publications :...
and the Adam Smith Institute
Adam Smith Institute
The Adam Smith Institute, abbreviated to ASI, is a think tank based in the United Kingdom, named after one of the founders of modern economics, Adam Smith. It espouses free market and classical liberal views, in particular by creating radical policy options in the light of public choice theory,...
.
Center For A Stateless Society
In November 2008, the Center For a Stateless Society announced that it would be hiring Carson as its Research Associate and first paid staff member. Since January 2009, Carson has produced several studies for the Center as well as numerous articles of political commentary on a variety of topics. Several of Carson's C4SS studies were re-worked into his third book, The Homebrew Industrial Revolution.Criticism
Economist and anarcho-capitalist Walter BlockWalter Block
Walter Edward Block is a free market economist and anarcho-capitalist associated with the Austrian School of economics.-Personal history and education:...
characterizes Carson as a Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, for his embrace of labor value exploitation theory
Exploitation theory
The exploitation theory is the theory, most associated with Marxists, that profit is the result of the exploitation of wage earners by their employers....
, and argues that Carson's philosophy is full of errors, mostly due to his acceptance of the labor theory of value. "For someone in this day and age to even take this doctrine seriously, let alone actually try to defend it, is equivalent to making a similarly widely and properly rejected position vis à vis the flat earth
Flat Earth
The Flat Earth model is a belief that the Earth's shape is a plane or disk. Most ancient cultures have had conceptions of a flat Earth, including Greece until the classical period, the Bronze Age and Iron Age civilizations of the Near East until the Hellenistic period, India until the Gupta period ...
, or the phlogiston theory
Phlogiston theory
The phlogiston theory , first stated in 1667 by Johann Joachim Becher, is an obsolete scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called "phlogiston", which was contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion...
. It is, in a word, medieval." Carson alleges that Block misrepresents many of his views and probably did not actually read his book.
Roderick T. Long criticizes Carson's claim that full private property rights do not stem from the concept of self-ownership, and presents an argument that if one accepts self-ownership, as Carson does, then non-Lockean proviso
Lockean proviso
The Lockean Proviso is a portion of John Locke's labor theory of property which says that though individuals have a right to acquire private property from nature, that they must leave "enough and as good in common...to others."...
homesteading
Homestead principle
The homestead principle in law is the concept that one can gain ownership of a natural thing that currently has no owner by using it or building something out of it...
rights must be accepted. However, Long accepts the concept of public property as valid and writes that communities may acquire land "by collectively homesteading," which could "[provide] a basis for No-Proviso Lockeans to recognize as legitimate the property arrangements of Mutualist
Mutualism
Mutualism is the way two organisms of different species biologically interact in a relationship in which each individual derives a fitness benefit . Similar interactions within a species are known as co-operation...
, Georgist
Georgism
Georgism is an economic philosophy and ideology that holds that people own what they create, but that things found in nature, most importantly land, belong equally to all...
, and Proviso-Lockean communities."
Publications
Currently Research Associate at the Center for a Stateless Society, he is the author of three books: The Homebrew Industrial Revolution, Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective, and Studies in Mutualist Political EconomyStudies in Mutualist Political Economy
Studies in Mutualist Political Economy is a book on political economy published on 2007 by american mutualist anarchist Kevin Carson. In its preface Carson describes this work as "an attempt to revive individualist anarchist political economy, to incorporate the useful developments of the last...
—the last the subject of a symposium in the Journal of Libertarian Studies. He has also authored Austrian and Marxist Theories of Monopoly-Capital, Contract Feudalism, The Ethics of Labor Struggle, and The Iron Fist behind the Invisible Hand.
His articles have appeared in The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, Land&Liberty
Land&Liberty
Land&Liberty is a quarterly magazine of popular political economics: its focus is the relationship between land and natural resource rights and 21st century economic policy...
, and Just Things, and have been featured at The Art of the Possible and on the P2P Foundation blog as well as on the popular foreign policy website AntiWar.Com
Antiwar.com
Antiwar.com is a website devoted to opposing aggressive war, imperialism, and assaults on freedom associated with both. The editors describe their politics as libertarian. Their stated motiviation is, "to show how the imperialistic tendencies of the American government lead to a loss of civil...
. His writing on the subject of political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
is cited by the widely read Anarchist FAQ
An Anarchist FAQ
"An Anarchist FAQ" is an FAQ written by an international work group of social anarchists connected through the internet. It documents anarchist theory and ideas while arguing that social anarchism is a better form of anarchism than individualist anarchism, which it critiques. It also explores other...
.
Selected works
- Studies in Mutualist Political Economy
- Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective
- The Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low Overhead Manifesto
- “Austrian and Marxist Theories of Monopoly Capital: A Mutualist Synthesis”
- "The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand: Corporate Capitalism as a State-Guaranteed System of Privilege"
External links
- Mutualist Blog: Free Market Anti-Capitalism by Kevin Carson
- Move over Karl, Anarchism Is Back! (Review of Studies in Mutualist Political Economy) by Larry Gambone
- Journal of Libertarian Studies Vol. 20 Num. 1. This issue is devoted to Mutualist political economy. It includes critiques and Carson's rejoinders.
- Center for a Stateless Society
- Kevin Carson Interview