Would Democratic Socialism Be Better?

The relative merits of democratic socialism are becoming progressively more relevant in the United States. More Americans are beginning to see through the obscuring haze cast by the moral panics and political repression of the Cold War era. The rise of political leaders and organizations under the broad banner of democratic socialism in a time of surging economic and political equality presents an essential and unique set of opportunities for social progress and flourishing. In the face of this emerging debate, Lane Kenworthy’s Would Democratic Socialism Be Better? demonstrates one of the core values of the field of sociology. It addresses a prescient but seemingly philosophical or normative question about society and social life. And, importantly, it does this through empirical analysis and theorizing of case studies. This approach is at the heart of the sociological tradition. Groundbreaking sociologists, from Durkheim to Du Bois, endeavored to lend empirically grounded and sociologically minded voices to critical public debates about what constitutes a ‘‘good’’ social system. Kenworthy draws on an appropriate, if imperfect, case study. The meat of the text examines the social, economic, and political conditions produced by the ‘‘Nordic Model’’ of democratic socialist capitalism. Through a series of empirical demonstrations, the text advocates for a ‘‘capitalist economy, a democratic political system, good elementary and secondary (K-12) schooling, a big welfare state, employment-conducive public services (childcare, job training, and others), and moderate regulation of product and labor markets’’ (p. 2). His core contention is that this system ‘‘improves living standards for the least well-off, enhances economic security, and boosts equality of opportunity’’ (p. 2). In an implicit rebuke of currently existing socialist countries (self-styled or otherwise), he posits also that this form of capitalism ‘‘does so without sacrificing the many other things we want in a good society, from liberty to economic growth to happiness’’ (p. 2). Having established this core argument, the remaining text sets up a series of investigations to demonstrate Nordic nations’ laudable outcomes in economic, social, political, and environmental well-being. These arguments and their empirical basis provide many substantial and convincing contributions. Moreover, the tone of much of the book is more conversational and investigative than polemical, and its overall deduction is admirably humble. Kenworthy concludes that democratic socialism might indeed be an ideal and even inevitable alternative but points out that, unlike democratic socialist capitalism, it remains untested. In this sense, the book’s initial framing is understandable but somewhat misleading. It seems to have much more to offer as a comparison between democratic socialist capitalism and other forms of existent capitalism rather than a statement on the validity of some hypothetical democratic socialism or attempts at socialism in nations such as Cuba. In its section on economic growth, however, the book acknowledges but sidesteps the growing notion among economists and other social scientists that economic growth is not a net social and environmental good, particularly on a planet with finite resources. This discussion would have benefited from more profound engagement with the contradictions between economic growth and social and ecological well-being. The book clearly and artfully demonstrates the merits of Nordic societies for their citizens and the benefits they enjoy compared to American-style capitalism, but it also fails to fully problematize the highly prescient problem of racial nationalism in Nordic politics and economics. Kenworthy also misses an opportunity for more robust and nuanced argumentation by ignoring the abundant empirical and theoretical examinations that richly critique racial and colonial capitalism’s problems and contradictions. The text, at one point, even notes the contention made by scholars of racial and colonial capitalism Reviews 449