In Praise of the Outsider

Universities are a frequent whipping-boy in these posts…….mainly for the compartmentalisation of the social sciences; the obfuscating nature of the prose which results as they disappear up one another’s arses; for the dominance and unjustifiable arrogance of the economists; and for the managerialist grab of the past few decades

This, of course reflects the prevailing neo-liberalism - which threw the idea of “learning for learning’s sake” completely out of the window and turned, instead, to a clear and strong insistence on vocational relevance

I’ll readily confess, however, that my cheap shots conceal the mixed feelings I still have about my own (ultimately painful) 17-year experience of academia….

I never allowed myself the discipline of keeping my nose to the intellectual grindstone - I was too busy proselytising - but I’m always secretly delighted when someone calls me a “scholar” (which happens!)   

What I object to, however, is the narrowness of the world which not only envelops the normal scholar but is then automatically transmitted to post-graduates - who are forced to spend years on a sub-sub-sub field of a discipline. Little wonder that we are so badly served with books about key issues – such as the global financial crash..

I try, occasionally, to explore why specialists write such inferior books compared to those who have resisted groupthink and who approach an issue more creatively…..from a multidisciplinary point of view. I find myself using the metaphor of a bridge, border or network.

Perhaps “outsider” is a better term (??) since it better conveys the sense of not belonging to the group – of being on the periphery…..Indeed the word “periphery” better conveys the sense of the messages and pressures from diverse sources which help avoid "groupthink"…  

And I have probably been insufficiently sensitive to the system in which social scientists are trapped…Academics are now under pressure to publish - with their Departments rewarded financially for those who have high ratings from what’s called “peer-reviews”. 

Those who accept the “conventional wisdom” in their fields and write in jargon will generally score well in these ratings. 
But go off piste and/or write in plain language the (wo)man in the street can understand and you’re in trouble. 
One of the concluding chapters of The Econocracy – the perils of leaving economics to the experts by Earle, Moran and Ward-Perkins (2017) explains this very well.

Some exceptional people have not been prepared to accept this - and I want to pay tribute to those who have challenged the conventional wisdom and produced books written for the common (wo)man…..

The list starts with some ex-academics - David Korten, calling himself an “engaged citizen”, is the best known. I remember the impact his first book made when it first came out all of 25 years ago. The introduction is quite gripping – you can see for yourself

Then someone whose name is almost unknown - who decided to opt out completely from the academic rat-race….Harry Shutt is a freelance indeed “dissident” economist. That means someone with none of the institutional ties that break a man’s soul. Shutt earns his keep by project work - and writes books he actually wants to on subjects he chooses and in language he hopes will be understood by his readers. That shows in two of his books which have just come to my attention and which I incorporate into one of my famous tables…..

Titles which deserve more readers

Book Title	Status of author	Focus of book	comment
When Corporations rule the world; David Korton (1995 and 20th anniversary edition)	Free-lance writer Ex Harvard Business School Prof. One of world’s most respected ant-globalists	One of the first (and still amongst the few) books to explore the unusual aspects of the structure of the global company and analyse the damage it inflicts on us all	The link gives the complete book If you read nothing else read, the introductory chapter
The Trouble With Capitalism – An Enquiry into the Causes of Global Economic Failure; Harry Shutt (1998)	Free-lance economist	A wide-ranging book to help the general reader put contemporary events in a proper historical context - and to challenge what Shutt calls the “organised indifference” which ruling interests try to encourage	Still worth reading, 22 years on!
The Decline of Capitalism – Can a Self-regulated Profits System Survive? Harry Shutt (2005)	freelance Interview here with Harry Shutt	A short book (just 150pp) which focuses on events since 1990 and should be read in conjunction with his first book Google excerpts only for his 2 books	I would love to see a further update
Parecon – life after capitalism; Miichael Albert (2003)	Activist	The strange title word refers to “participatory economics”.	The link gives the entire book – which argues for an alternative way of thinking of economics
Inside Capitalism – an introduction to Political Economy; Paul Phillips (2003)	University economist	this is an rare intro to political economy which uses Canadian examples Google excerpts only	One of the clearest textbooks I’ve seen,
Supercapitalism – the transformation of business, democracy and everyday life; Robert Reich (2007).	University administrator who was US Cabinet member	One of the early books about the tension between capitalism and democracy – well summarised here	Link gives the entire book
The Crises of Capitalism – a different study of political economy; Saral Sarkar (2011)	Indian-german academic eco-activist	A book written by someone steeped in the critical literature and its activist circles whose background (presumably) allows him to pose questions and see things others don’t	Link gives the entire book
Global Capitalism and the crisis of humanity; William Robinson (2014)	prolific leftist activist sociologist	Google excerpts are unusually extensive The book is more academic than the others (certainly with denser references) but the opening pages “situate” the book nicely in the wider lit – always a plus for me	another clearly-written exposition..  read more about the author here