Is Democratic Socialist Planning Possible? – A Conversation with Christoph Sorg

This description is copied from the event flyer:

This talk explores the resurgence of economic planning debates, arguing that planning has expanded under capitalism rather than declined. It revisits the socialist calculation debate and reviews three planning models: Keynesian, Neurathian, and Polanyian. Emaphasizing Polanyian planning, Sorg highlights its potential for democratizing surplus allocation, decommodifying essential goods, and advancing digital-ecological approaches to price-setting.

Christoph Sorg is a social scientist at Humboldt University Berlin and guest researcher at UC Berkeley. His work focuses on capitalism, economic planning, and social reproduction, combining insights from economic sociology and political economy. He recently co-edited Rethinking Economic Planning (Competition & Change) and Creative Construction: Democratic Planning in the 21st Century (Bristol University Press).