{"product_id":"the-desktop-regulatory-state-the-countervailing-power-of-individuals-and-networks-9781523275595","title":"The Desktop Regulatory State: The Countervailing Power of Individuals and Networks","description":"Defenders of the modern state often claim that it's needed to protect us-from terrorists, invaders, bullies, and rapacious corporations. Economist John Kenneth Galbraith, for instance, famously argued that the state was a source of \"countervailing power\" that kept other social institutions in check.But what if those \"countervailing\" institution-corporations, government agencies and domesticated labor unions-in practice collude more than they \"countervail\" each other? And what if network communications technology and digital platforms now enable us to take on all those dinosaur hierarchies as equals-and more than equals. In The Desktop Regulatory State, Kevin Carson shows how the power of self-regulation, which people engaged in social cooperation have always possessed, has been amplified and intensifed by changes in consciousness-as people have become aware of their own power and of their ability to care for themselves without the state-and in technology-especially information technology.Drawing as usual on a wide array of insights from diverse disciplines, Carson paints an inspiring, challenging, and optimistic portrait of a humane future without the state, and points provocatively toward the steps we need to take in order to achieve it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKevin Carson is a Senior Fellow and holds the Karl Hess Chair in Social Theory at Center for a Stateless Society (C4SS.org), where he writes news commentary and research papers. He is the author of three previous books: Studies in Mutualist Political Economy; Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective; and The Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low-Overhead Manifesto.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Createspace Independent Publishing Platform","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50351235203346,"sku":"9781523275595","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bee45372-89f1-4b07-8914-a38de34163c2.jpg?v=1728258720","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-desktop-regulatory-state-the-countervailing-power-of-individuals-and-networks-9781523275595","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}