After being proclaimed dead, there is now a major revival of socialist ideology in the West. But what does socialism mean? This book shows that it is irretrievably associated with common ownership. The twentieth-century experience of comprehensive national planning with state ownership has been disastrous, and in no case has democracy endured within large-scale socialism. This volume explains why.

The alternative socialist option of worker-owned cooperatives must accept a major role for markets that many socialists reject. Further experiments in that direction must be subordinate to higher principles of liberal solidarity, involving a mixed market economy with a welfare state. This is not socialism in the original sense.

"Geoffrey Hodgson’s new book is timely. The author makes a renewed case for the mixed economy and for liberal (or social) democracy, as well as for cautious, experimental reform. Against the small state, laissez-faire liberalism resurgent from the 1970s, he develops a more socially conscious strand of liberal politics. He also musters a strong case against 'big' socialism, or systems in which state ownership and central planning are extensive. ... It is a substantial piece of scholarship with which socialists and social democrats should be willing to engage"

David Dalton, review in The Chartist, September 2020.

"Socialism is being offered by the likes of Bernie Sanders, Jeremy Corbyn and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez as a humane and democratic solution to pressing economic and environmental problems. Geoff Hodgson, the world’s foremost scholar on institutions of economic systems, has written a vital and urgent book explaining why this utopian dream is infeasible."

Jason Potts - RMIT University, Australia

"Very good. Not a polemic, but a subtle and wide ranging discussion of the issues. Should be widely read, especially by those who are proud to declare that they are 'socialists'."

"If you want to know about the economic and political concepts underpinning the widely discussed but frequently misunderstood concept of socialism, and why there are significant flaws with ‘pure’ Marxist socialism, then Is Socialism Feasible is definitely the book to read.  The book is impressive in discussing how socialism has developed as an idea from the 18th century and the time of the French revolution to the present day with the rise (and perhaps subsequent fall) of so-called ‘millennial socialism’. It is hard to disagree with the conclusion of the book that while small-scale socialism may be feasible large scale socialism will virtually always be damaging in practice’. It should make the reader seriously pause for thought before identifying themselves as a ‘socialist’."

    Preface
    Introduction

    Part I: Socialism, markets and democracy
1.    What does socialism mean?
2.    Small socialism requires frugality or markets
3.    Big socialism brings stagnation and despotism
4.    Knowledge, complexity and the limits to planning

    Part II: Towards a feasible alternative: liberal solidarity
5.    Social knowledge and freedom to choose
6.    The limits and indispensability of states and markets
7.    Varieties of capitalism: the realms of the possible
8.    The making of liberal solidarity