Transitions from Twenty-first-century Capitalism

In modern history, social movements change the living conditions that influence well-being. Successful movements require a shared diagnosis, vision, and strategies for the transition. Today’s capitalism that values profit and corporate well-being over human and planetary health is the problem. A world where the food, education, health care, and other basic necessities are available to all and easier to find than their health-damaging alternatives is the vision, consistent with available human knowledge but not with the current distribution of power and wealth. To forge strategies for the transition, advocates can learn from current social movements — from climate and labor to Black, women’s and global justice — that are moving in this direction. The Green New Deal, worker cooperatives, and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic show how movements can make capitalism the target of change, use health as a unifying theme, and extract strategies for change from current practice.