The Accidental Societist: How to build a fairer economy, politics and society

Peter Ellis

May 2024 · Grosvenor House Publishing

About this ebook

Our lived experience should be enriched by a political and economic system that is just and fair, that strengthens the ties that bind us together as a society with shared values, and allows us to live, however we choose, safely, and secure in the provision of the essential elements of our lives; economic, human and environmental. Our current market economy was conceived in a social vacuum, when gender, race and social class rights, were denied most of the population. There was no universal franshise. We can add intergenerational rights to that list. This book explores why our market economy and politics fails to adapt as society evolves. It answers the question, if not capitalism, what? This is about far more than economics. It raises the banner for equality, rights and economic democracy. It defines what it means to be human, and the values with live by, share, and who we are as a society. It is about a reshaping of politics around a radicalised Centre and beyond, and confronting unspoken truths, laying the ground for a new paradigm.

About the author

Peter Ellis is the co-founder of the Society Alliance, a campaiging organisation promoting a societal economy and Homes within Homes, an organisation advocating the use of our existing housing stock to create affordable tenancies.He is a political thinker and campaigner, who after spending several years as a councillor in the mid-1980s has developed increasingly radical, yet inclusive solutions to the social and economic problems of the modern age. He writes as a father, seeking a better future for younger and future generations.His is a unique message saying we must challenge legacy, the bi-partisan economics of capitalism and socialism and embrace a more humane and democratic, plural economy, which places the individual and society at the heart of our decision making and politics.