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In no field do the claims of democratic diversity and free political competition which are made on behalf of the "open societies" of advanced capitalism appear to be more valid than in the field of communications. For in contrast to Communist and other "monolithic" regimes, the means of expression in capitalist countries are not normally monopolized by, and subservient to, the ruling political power. The importance and value of the freedom and opportunity of expression is not to be underestimated. For the agencies of communication and notably the mass media are, in reality, and the expression of dissident views not-withstanding, a crucial element in the legitimation of capitalist society. Freedom of expression is not thereby rendered meaningless. At the core of the commitment lies a general acceptance of prevailing modes of thought concerning the economic and social order and a specific acceptance of the capitalist system, even though sometimes qualified, as natural and desirable. Adapted from the source document.

Post-Capitalist Society provides an analysis of the transformation of the world into a post-capitalist society. This transformation, which will not be completed until 2010 or 2020, has already changed the political, economic, social, and moral landscape of the world. The book reviews and revises the social, economic, and political history of the Age of Capitalism and of the nation state. It argues that the real and controlling resource and the absolutely decisive 'factor of production' is neither capital, nor land, nor labor. It is knowledge. Instead of capitalists and proletarians, the classe

Originally published in 1980, Urban Planning in a Capitalist Society addresses land use planning as both a technical and a political activity, involving the distribution of scarce resources – land and capital. The book reviews and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of several theoretical perspectives, and pluralist, bureaucratic, reformist and Marxist approaches to the distribution of power, and hence resources in a capitalist society. It concentrates on the role played by planning professionals, the opportunity for the public to influence land use planning decision making, and the scope for political action concerning planning.

Which is the fundamental contradiction of capitalism: the capital-labor polarity or the contrast between socialized production and private appropriation? Those looking on the capital-labor polarity as the main contradiction will argue that socialism arises when the passage from a system controlled by capital owners to a system of worker-run firms sparks off the reversal of the usual capital-labor relation. Conversely, those who think that the key contradiction of capitalism is the contrast between socialized production and private appropriation will contend that the social order to rise from the ashes of capitalism is a centrally planned system. This paper reports arguments in support of the former option. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright holder.]