View source for Kevin Carson

{{POV|date=December 2020}}
{{short description|American academic}}
{{Libertarianism sidebar}}
'''Kevin Carson''' is an American [[social theorist]], [[economist]] and [[anarchist]] who has identified at various times as a [[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualist]], [[individualist anarchist]], [[left-wing market anarchist]] and [[anarchist without adjectives]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Introductions - Kevin Carson|url=http://c4ss.org/content/11792|publisher=Center for a Stateless Society|website=c4ss.org|access-date=4 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Kevin Carson|url=https://kevinacarson.org/|publisher=Kevin Carson|access-date=4 May 2020|website=kevinacarson.org}}</ref><ref name=accumulation/>{{rp|28}} He works as a Senior Fellow and Karl Hess Chair in Social Theory at the Center for a Stateless Society.<ref name="Jun2017">{{cite book|editor=Nathan J. Jun|title=Brill's Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_U4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PR20|year=2017|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-35689-4|page=20}}</ref> Carson's ''Studies in Mutualist Political Economy'' aims to revive interest in mutualism in an effort to synthesize [[Austrian School]] economics with the [[labor theory of value]] by attempting to incorporate both [[Subjective theory of value|subjectivism]] and [[time preference]].{{r|RTL editorial}}

== Ideas ==

=== "Vulgar libertarianism" ===
Carson coined the [[pejorative]] term "vulgar libertarianism" to describe the use of free market rhetoric in defense of [[corporate capitalism]] and [[economic inequality]].<ref name="Long2012">{{cite journal |last1=Long |first1=Roderick |title=Left-Libertarianism, Market Anarchism, Class Conflict and Historical Theories of Distributive Justice |journal=Griffith Law Review |date=2012 |volume=21 |issue=2 |page=422 |doi=10.1080/10383441.2012.10854747 |s2cid=143550988 }}</ref> According to Carson, the term is derived from the phrase "vulgar political economy", which [[Karl Marx]] described as an economic order that "deliberately becomes increasingly apologetic and makes strenuous attempts to talk out of existence the ideas which contain the contradictions [existing in economic life]".<ref>Marx, ''Theories of Surplus Value, III,'' p. 501.</ref> Carson writes: {{blockquote|Vulgar libertarian apologists for capitalism use the term "free market" in an equivocal sense: they seem to have trouble remembering, from one moment to the next, whether they're defending actually existing capitalism or free market principles. So we get the standard boilerplate article in ''The Freeman'' arguing that the rich can't get rich at the expense of the poor, because "that's not how the free market works"—implicitly assuming that this is a free market. When prodded, they'll grudgingly admit that the present system is not a free market, and that it includes a lot of state intervention on behalf of the rich. But as soon as they think they can get away with it, they go right back to defending the wealth of existing corporations on the basis of "free market principles."<ref>Carson, Kevin. ''[http://www.mutualist.org/id112.html Studies in Mutualist Political Economy]  {{webarchive|url=https://www.webcitation.org/5v8wrbTrn?url=http://www.mutualist.org/id112.html|date=December 21, 2010}}, p. 142</ref>}}

== Criticism ==
Carson's work has never been published in a peer-reviewed academic outlet, but nevertheless, his blogposts and self-published pieces have been addressed by [[anarcho-capitalists]] [[Walter Block]]<ref>Block, Walter. [https://mises.org/library/kevin-carson-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde Kevin Carson as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde] ''[[Journal of Libertarian Studies]]'', Volume 20, No. 1 (Winter 2006), pp. 35–36</ref> and Tate Fegley<ref>Fegley, Tate. [https://philpapers.org/rec/MCCKCA-3 Kevin Carson and the Freed Market: Is His Left-Libertarian Vision Plausible?]</ref> as well as fellow Center for a Stateless Society member [[Roderick T. Long]].<ref>[[Roderick T. Long|Long, Roderick]]. [https://www.mises.org/journals/jls/20_1/20_1_6.pdf "Land-locked: A Critique of Carson on Property Rights"]. ''[[Journal of Libertarian Studies]]'', Volume 20, No. 1 (Winter 2006): 87–95</ref>

The [[anarcho-syndicalist]] group [[Workers' Solidarity Alliance]] has criticized Carson for neglecting the role of [[class struggle]] in [[anti-capitalist]] activities.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Free Market Fantasy|url=http://ideasandaction.info/2016/11/free-market-fantasy/|website=ideasandaction.info|publisher=Workers Solidarity Alliance|access-date=5 May 2020}}</ref> Carson responded by claiming that anarcho-syndicalism is outdated and unrealistic.<ref>{{cite web|title=In Which the Anarcho-Syndicalists Discover C4SS|url=https://c4ss.org/content/46875|website=c4ss.org|publisher=Center for a Stateless Society|access-date=5 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A Response to 'In Which the Anarcho-Syndicalists Discover C4SS'|url=https://www.anarkismo.net/article/30388|website=anarkismo.net|access-date=5 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Left-Market Rambling: A reply to Kevin Carson|url=https://libcom.org/library/left-market-rambling-reply-kevin-carson|website=libcom.org|access-date=5 May 2020}}</ref>

== Selected works ==
* ''Studies in Mutualist Political Economy'' (2007)<ref name="RTL editorial">{{Cite journal |last1=Long |first1=Roderick T. |title=Editorial to Symposium Issue on Studies in Mutualist Political Economy |journal=Journal of Libertarian Studies |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=34 |date=2006 |url=https://mises.org/library/editorial-symposium-issue-studies-mutualist-political-economy |language=en |df=mdy-all }}</ref>{{r|Jun2017}}
* ''Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective'' (2008){{r|Jun2017}}
* ''The Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low-Overhead Manifesto'' (2010){{r|Jun2017}}
* ''The Desktop Regulatory State: The Countervailing Power of Individuals and Networks'' (2016)<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Desktop Regulatory State|url=https://www.goodreads.com/work/best_book/54830667-the-desktop-regulatory-state-the-countervailing-power-of-individuals-an|access-date=2020-09-02|website=www.goodreads.com}}</ref>
* ''Capitalist Nursery Fables'' (2020)<ref>{{Cite web|last=Carson|first=Kevin|title=Capitalist Nursery Fables: The Tragedy of Private Property, and the Farce of Its Defense|url=https://c4ss.org/content/53305|access-date=2020-09-02|website=Center for a Stateless Society|language=en-US}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Anarchism|Libertarianism}}
* [[Anarchist economics]]

== References ==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=accumulation>{{cite book|last1=Shannon|first1=Deric|last2=Nocella II|first2=Anthony|last3=Asimakopoulos|first3=John|title=The Accumulation of Freedom|date=2012|publisher=[[AK Press]]|location=Oakland, Edinburgh, Baltimore|isbn=978-1849350945}}</ref>
}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{official website}}
* {{Twitter}}
* [https://independent.academia.edu/KevinCarson Kevin Carson] on [[Academia.edu]]
* [https://c4ss.org/content/author/kevin-carson Kevin Carson] on [[Center for a Stateless Society]]
* [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/author/kevin-carson Kevin Carson] on The Anarchist Library
* [https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/author/kevin Kevin Carson's blog] on P2P Foundation

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