This Palgrave Pivot presents a series of political economy short stories of collective agency, weaving together the history of a progressive change with a discussion of the role of institutions to effect change. These stories highlight sustained activism around valuing caring, ending discrimination, protecting the environment, improving worker well-being, and reimagining ways to encourage local economic development by restoring public-private social balance. Ultimately, these stories demonstrate that challenges to the neoliberal economy are possible. Neoliberalism can be viewed as a value structure that is undermining sustainable human development by elevating the level of risk experienced in daily economic life. Its hallmarks are globalization, market liberalization, deregulation, financialization, cutbacks in social provisioning through the public sector, and restructuring of labor markets in ways that increase instability. Social movements have responded, agitating for change. The stories here provide examples of how social actors engage in collective behavior to advance the objectives of economic justice, democratic participation in economic life, and human development.

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Authors and Affiliations

Stockton University, Galloway, USA

Deborah M. Figart

About the author

Deborah M. Figart is Distinguished Professor of Economics at Stockton University, USA. She is the author of numerous books and articles on subjects related to work and pay. In 2016, she served as President of the Association for Evolutionary Economics, and in 2006 she was President of the Association for Social Economics.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Stories of Progressive Institutional Change
Book Subtitle: Challenges to the Neoliberal Economy
Authors: Deborah M. Figart
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59779-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-59778-2Published: 10 July 2017
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-59779-9Published: 25 June 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 136
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Institutional/Evolutionary Economics, International Political Economy

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

Front Matter

Back Matter

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