Social Ecology

Social Ecology, a type of libertarian communism first developed by Murray Bookchin, asserts that social hierarchy is the root cause of the destructive belief that humans may dominate nature. The implication, then, is that the solution of ecological problems requires a movement to abolish hierarchy within human society.

Social Ecologists posit an account of the rise of hierarchy, a political strategy for social change (libertarian municipalism, or Communalism), and even a philosophy for understanding evolution (dialectical naturalism). Unusual for an Anarchist, Bookchin advocated running Green candidates for local office to educate the public about Anarchism. Bookchin had heated debates with syndicalists, deep ecologists, primitivists, proponents of consensus decision-making, and many others who disagreed with him. Toward the end of his life, Bookchin broke with Anarchism, advancing Social Ecology as a stand-alone theory.

Culture

The goal of culture, for Bookchin, was to satisfy people's desires, not just their needs. Thus, Bookchin advocated a society based on pleasure rather than mere happiness. In such a society, individuals would necessarily be free to self-determine their lives, but people could only realize their full individuality, exercise their full talents and capacities, in a socially-engaged life. Freedom, for Social Ecologists, has a social aspect and can not be reduced to individual autonomy alone.

Bookchin revolutionized Anarchist theory by making hierarchy its central concept. Formerly, Anarchists had by definition opposed the State and capitalism, and implicitly Anarchism opposed other oppressive structures such as patriarchy, white supremacy, and militarism. Bookchin explicitly assigned all these structures to an explicit category: hierarchy being the relation and domination being the practice.

Environmental concerns made freedom into a very urgent necessity. Bookchin warned of a stark choice of "anarchism or annihilation." Social Ecology asserts that the ideologies enabling environmental destruction have their roots in social hierarchies. Bookchin writes, "We must emphasize, here, that the idea of dominating nature has its primary source in the domination of human by human and the structuring of the natural world into a hierarchical Chain of Being (a static conception, incidentally, that has no relationship to the evolution of life into increasingly advanced forms of subjectivity and flexibility)." Thus, Social Ecologists insist that an ecological society must be one based on human freedom.

Decisions

Each neighborhood self-governs at "citizen's assemblies" held weekly in a public space such as a park or auditorium. Each assembly makes decisions by majority vote and operates according to locally-established procedures that have been written down. The agenda for each meeting gets publicized several days in advance, so that people have time to think about and discuss the issues being discussed.