Dispossessed
Book: Ursula K. LeGuin, The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia (1974)
Description
1. Dan Clore:
"attempts to portray an anarchist-communist society in full, with both its good and bad features readily apparent. On Anarres, moon of the planet Urras, there is a society founded on the philosophy of Odonianism, a synthesis of Taoism and anarcho-syndicalism. This novel is currently very popular amongst anarchist-socialists, but many pro-capitalists consider Anarres an unambiguous dystopia. "The Day before the Revolution" (1974) concerns Odo, the founder of Odonianism, the mix of anarcho-syndicalism and Taoism portrayed in The Dispossessed. Odo is, furthermore (according to LeGuin), one of "The Ones Who Walk away from Omelas" (1973) and refuse to benefit from a system in which some gain at the unwilling expense of others. In her introduction to the story in The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975) LeGuin says, "Odonianism is anarchism. Not the bomb-in-the-pocket stuff, which is terrorism, whatever name it tries to dignify itself with; not the social-Darwinist economic 'libertarianism' of the far right; but anarchism, as prefigured in early Taoist thought, and expounded by Shelley and Kropotkin, Goldman and Goodman. Anarchism's principal target is the authoritarian State (capitalist or socialist); its principal moral-practical theme is cooperation (solidarity, mutual aid). It is the most idealistic, and to me the most interesting, of all political theories."
(http://www.nolanchart.com/article4700.html)
2. Edgerygers SF economics sigthings:
"chapter 20 (of Giorgos Kallis, In defence of degrowth) is called “A society without growth: The planet of The Dispossessed”, and it references – you guessed it – Ursula K. Le Guin’s celebrated The Dispossessed, which inspired one of the very first entries on our own wiki 5. That’s a rare opportunity to see a famous non-neoclassical economist muse on work of economically-inclined sci-fi! Unfortunately, Kallis does not get into a deep economic analysis of The Dispossessed. Rather, he describes the society of Anarres as presented by Le Guin; observes that her contribution does not consist to point to a model, but simply to “think the unthinkable”; and concludes:
Many of the ideas Le Guin weaves together — worksharing; reduced work hours; co-housing, transport, and consumption sharing; horizontal and direct forms of decision-making; ecological limits and bioregionalism; open borders; cooperatives of production and consumption; technological preservation rather than advancement; frugality and festival destruction of surplus — feature in degrowth debates. […] Is Anarres an appealing future? For those practicing degrowth in various eco-communes and co-housing initiatives in Europe and the Americas, there must be something strikingly familiar to life on Anarres. Despite what to others would seem to be hardship, they enjoy the way they live, as do the people of Anarres. Ultimately, the beauty of Anarres is in the eye of the beholder. Having gone through the 350 pages of the novel, I side with the protagonist, who at the end prefers to live and fight for change on Anarres rather than on Urras. You should read, think, and decide for yourself."