Editing Murray Bookchin (section)

== Thought<!--'Dialectical naturalism' redirects here--> ==
In addition to his political writings, Bookchin wrote extensively on philosophy, calling his ideas '''dialectical naturalism'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->.<ref name="EoF-2005" />{{RP|31}} The [[dialectical]] writings of [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]], which articulate a developmental philosophy of change and growth, seemed to him to lend themselves to an organic, environmentalist approach.<ref name="EoF-2005" />{{RP|96–97}} Although Hegel "exercised a considerable influence" on Bookchin, he was not, in any sense, a Hegelian.<ref>{{cite book |first=Murray |last=Bookchin |title=The Philosophy of Social Ecology: Essays on Dialectical Naturalism |location=Montreal |publisher=[[Black Rose Books]] |date=1996 |page=x |isbn=}}</ref> His philosophical writings emphasize [[humanism]], [[rationality]], and the ideals of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Murray |last=Bookchin  |date=1982 |title=The Ecology of Freedom |location=US |publisher=Cheshire Books |page=20 |isbn=}}</ref><ref>See ''Re-Enchanting Humanity'', London: Cassell, 1995, amongst other works.</ref>

=== General sociological and psychological views ===
Bookchin was critical of class-centered analysis of Marxism and simplistic anti-state forms of libertarianism and liberalism and wished to present what he saw as a more complex view of societies. In ''The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy,'' he says that:

<blockquote>
My use of the word [[hierarchy]] in the subtitle of this work is meant to be provocative. There is a strong theoretical need to contrast hierarchy with the more widespread use of the words class and State; careless use of these terms can produce a dangerous simplification of social reality. To use the words hierarchy, class, and State interchangeably, as many social theorists do, is insidious and obscurantist. This practice, in the name of a "classless" or "libertarian" society, could easily conceal the existence of hierarchical relationships and a hierarchical sensibility, both of which—even in the absence of economic exploitation or political coercion—would serve to perpetuate unfreedom.<ref>Murray Bookchin. ''The Ecology of Freedom: the emergence and dissolution of Hierarchy''. Cheshire Books: Palo Alto. 1982. p. 3 {{ISBN?}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Bookchin also points to an accumulation of hierarchical systems throughout history that has occurred up to contemporary societies which tends to determine the human collective and individual [[Psyche (psychology)|psyche]]:

<blockquote>
The objective history of the social structure becomes internalized as a subjective history of the psychic structure. Heinous as my view may be to modern [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]]ians, it is not the discipline of work but the discipline of rule that demands the repression of internal nature. This repression then extends outward to external nature as a mere object of rule and later of exploitation. This mentality permeates our individual psyches in a cumulative form up to the present day—not merely as capitalism but as the vast history of hierarchical society from its inception.<ref>Murray Bookchin. ''The Ecology of Freedom: the emergence and dissolution of Hierarchy''. Cheshire Books: Palo Alto. 1982. p. 8 {{ISBN?}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Bookchin argued that both [[Marxism]] and [[syndicalism]] had focused too narrowly on appealing to workers and workplace issues.
<blockquote>
Yes, class struggles still exist, but they occur farther and farther below the threshold of class war. Workers, as I can attest from my own experience as a foundryman and as an autoworker for General Motors, do not regard themselves as mindless adjuncts to machines or as factory dwellers or even as "instruments of history," as Marxists might put it. They regard themselves as living human beings: as fathers and mothers, as sons and daughters, as people with dreams and visions, as members of communities—not only of trade unions.{{sfn|Bookchin|2015}}
</blockquote>

=== Humanity's environmental predicament ===
Bookchin's book about humanity's collision course with the natural world, ''[[Our Synthetic Environment]]'', was published six months before [[Rachel Carson]]'s ''[[Silent Spring]].''{{sfn|Bookchin|2015}}{{pn|date=March 2025}}

Bookchin rejected [[Barry Commoner]]'s belief that the environmental crisis could be traced to technological choices, [[Paul R. Ehrlich|Paul Ehrlich]]'s views that it could be traced to overpopulation, or the even more pessimistic view that traces this crisis to human nature. Rather, Bookchin felt that our environmental predicament is the result of the cancerous logic of capitalism, a system aimed at maximizing profit instead of enriching human lives: "By the very logic of its grow-or-die imperative, capitalism may well be producing ecological crises that gravely imperil the integrity of life on this planet."

The solution to this crisis, he said, is not a return to hunter-gatherer societies, which Bookchin characterized as xenophobic and warlike. Bookchin likewise opposed "a politics of mere protest, lacking programmatic content, a proposed alternative, and a movement to give people direction and continuity."{{sfn|Bookchin|2015}}{{pn|date=March 2025}} He claims we need:<blockquote>...a constant awareness that a given society's irrationality is deep-seated, that its serious pathologies are not isolated problems that can be cured piecemeal but must be solved by sweeping changes in the often hidden sources of crisis and suffering—that awareness alone is what can hold a movement together, give it continuity, preserve its message and organization beyond a given generation, and expand its ability to deal with new issues and developments.{{sfn|Bookchin|2015}}{{pn|date=March 2025}}</blockquote>The answer then lies in communalism, a system encompassing a [[Direct democracy|directly democratic]] political organization anchored in loosely confederated popular assemblies, decentralization of power, absence of domination of any kind, and replacing capitalism with human-centered forms of production.{{sfn|Bookchin|2015}}{{pn|date=March 2025}}

=== Social ecology<!--'Social ecology (Bookchin)' and 'Social ecology (theory)' redirect here--> ===
{{see also|Social ecology (disambiguation){{!}}Social ecology}}
'''Social ecology'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> is a [[philosophical theory]] associated with Bookchin, concerned with the relationship between ecological and social issues.<ref name="Bookchin-Social-Ecology">{{cite book |last=Bookchin |first=Murray |title=Social Ecology and Communalism |url=http://new-compass.net/sites/new-compass.net/files/Bookchin%27s%20Social%20Ecology%20and%20Communalism.pdf |year=2006 |publisher=[[AK Press]] |isbn=978-1-904859-49-9 |access-date=February 23, 2023 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124111812/http://new-compass.net/sites/new-compass.net/files/Bookchin%27s%20Social%20Ecology%20and%20Communalism.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Bookchin-Psichenatura">{{cite web |last=Bookchin |first=Murray |title=What is Social Ecology? |url=http://www.psichenatura.it/fileadmin/img/M._Bookchin_What_is_Social_Ecology.pdf |year=2007 |publisher=psichenatura.it |access-date=February 23, 2023 |archive-date=December 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151227082949/http://www.psichenatura.it/fileadmin/img/M._Bookchin_What_is_Social_Ecology.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> It is not a movement but a theory primarily associated with his thought and elaborated over his body of work.{{sfn|Light|1998|p=5}} He presents a utopian philosophy of human evolution that combines the nature of biology and society into a third "thinking nature" beyond biochemistry and physiology, which he argues is a more complete, conscious, ethical, and rational nature. Humanity, by this line of thought, is the latest development from the long history of organic development on Earth. Bookchin's social ecology proposes ethical principles for replacing a society's propensity for hierarchy and domination with that of democracy and freedom.<ref name="Stokols2018">{{cite book |last=Stokols |first=Daniel |title=Social Ecology in the Digital Age: Solving Complex Problems in a Globalized World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T4mZDgAAQBAJ |year=2018 |publisher=[[Elsevier Science]] |isbn=978-0-12-803114-8 |page=33 |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=July 22, 2018 |archive-date=September 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921021324/https://books.google.com/books?id=T4mZDgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

It emerged from a time in the mid-1960s, under the emergence of both the [[environmental movement|global environmental]] and the [[Civil rights movement|American civil rights]] movements, and played a much more visible role from the upward movement against [[nuclear power]] by the late 1970s.<ref name="Bookchin-Socialeco">{{cite web |title=On Bookchin's Social Ecology and its Contributions to Social Movements |work=Institute for Social Ecology |url=http://social-ecology.org/wp/2008/03/on-bookchins-social-ecology-and-its-contributions-to-social-movements/ |year=2018 |publisher=social-ecology.org |access-date=February 23, 2023 |archive-date=September 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929113609/http://social-ecology.org/wp/2008/03/on-bookchins-social-ecology-and-its-contributions-to-social-movements/ |url-status=live |last1=Tokar |first1=Brian }}</ref> It presents ecological problems as arising mainly from social problems, in particular from different forms of hierarchy and domination beginning with gerontocracy and patriarchy and extending through various forms of oppression including gender, race, and class status. It seeks to resolve them through the model of a non-hierarchical ecological society based on self-determination at the local level,<ref>{{harvnb|Bookchin|2015|p=39}} It is a theory of radical [[political ecology]] based on [[Communalism (Bookchin)|communalism]]</ref> which opposes the current [[Criticism of capitalism|capitalist system of production]] and [[Consumerism|consumption]]. It aims to set up a moral, decentralized, united society, guided by reason. While Bookchin distanced himself from [[anarchism]] later in his life, the philosophical theory of social ecology is often considered to be a form of eco-anarchism.<ref>McKay, Iain. ''An Anarchist FAQ.'' AK Press: Oakland. 2008. pp. 65.{{ISBN?}}</ref>

Bookchin wrote about the effects of urbanization on human life in the early 1960s during his participation in the civil rights and related social movements. He then began to pursue the connection between ecological and social issues, culminating with his best-known book, ''The Ecology of Freedom'', which he had developed over a decade.{{Sfn|Light|1998|pp=5–6}} His argument, that human domination and destruction of nature follows from social domination between humans, was a breakthrough position in the growing field of ecology. He writes that life develops from self-organization and evolutionary cooperation ([[symbiosis]]).{{sfn|Light|1998|p=6}} Bookchin wrote of preliterate societies organized around mutual need but ultimately overrun by institutions of hierarchy and domination, such as city-states and capitalist economies, which he attributes uniquely to societies of humans and not communities of animals.{{sfn|Light|1998|p=7}} He proposes confederation between communities of humans run through democracy rather than through administrative logistics.{{sfn|Light|1998|p=8}}

Bookchin's work, beginning with anarchist writings on the subject in the 1960s, has continuously evolved. Towards the end of the 1990s, he increasingly integrated the principle of communalism, with aspirations more inclined towards institutionalized municipal democracy, which distanced him from certain evolutions of [[anarchism]]. Bookchin's work draws inspiration from, and expands up, anarchism (mainly [[Peter Kropotkin|Kropotkin]]), [[Syndicalism]], and [[Marxism]] (including the writings of [[Karl Marx|Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]]). Social ecology refuses the pitfalls of a [[Neo-Malthusian]] ecology which erases social relationships by replacing them with "natural forces", but also of a technocratic ecology which considers that environmental progress must rely on technological breakthroughs and that the state will play an integral role in this technological development. According to Bookchin, these two currents depoliticize ecology and mythologize the past and the future.<ref name="Bookchin-Social-Ecology"/>

In May 2016, the first "International Social Ecology Meetings" were organized in [[Lyon, France|Lyon]], France, which brought together a hundred radical environmentalists, decreasing figures and libertarians, most of whom came from France, [[Belgium]], Spain and [[Switzerland]], but also from the United States, [[Guatemala]] and Canada. At the center of the debates: libertarian municipalism as an alternative to the nation state and the need to rethink activism.<ref>{{cite web |title=Questions pour un autre futur |trans-title=Questions for another future |url=http://www.lecourrier.ch/140925/questions_pour_un_autre_futur |date=July 25, 2016 |publisher=Le Courrier |language=fr |access-date=February 23, 2023 |archive-date=May 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170527152530/https://www.lecourrier.ch/140925/questions_pour_un_autre_futur |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Rencontres Internationales de l'Écologie Sociale – 27 28 et 29 mai 2016 Lyon |trans-title=International Meetings of Social Ecology – 27 28 and 29 May 2016, Lyon |url=http://www.passerelleco.info/article.php?id_article=2091 |date=March 16, 2016 |publisher=Passerelle éco |language=fr |access-date=February 23, 2023 |archive-date=February 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223193940/https://www.passerelleco.info/article.php?id_article=2091 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Tokar |first=Brian |chapter=Bookchin's Social Ecology and its Contributions to the Red-Green Movement |author-link=Brian Tokar |editor-last=Huan |editor-first=Qingzhi |title=Eco-socialism as Politics: Rebuilding the Basis of Our Modern Civilisation |date=2010 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |isbn=978-90-481-3745-9 |doi=10.1007/978-90-481-3745-9_8 |pages=123–140 [123–127]}}</ref>

==== Kurdish movement ====
Bookchin's reflections on social ecology and libertarian municipalism also inspired [[Abdullah Öcalan]], the historical leader of the Kurdish movement, to create the concept of [[democratic confederalism]], which aims to bring together the peoples of the Middle East in a confederation of democratic, multicultural and [[ecologism|ecological]] communes.<ref name="utopia1">{{cite web |last1=Bookchin |first1=Debbie |url=https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/06/15/how-my-fathers-ideas-helped-the-kurds-create-a-new-democracy/ |title=How My Father's Ideas Helped the Kurds Create a New Democracy |work=The [[New York Review of Books]] |date=June 15, 2018 |access-date=May 20, 2016 |archive-date=September 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901113249/https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/06/15/how-my-fathers-ideas-helped-the-kurds-create-a-new-democracy/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="diplo1">{{cite web |first=Benjamin |last=Fernandez |title=Murray Bookchin, écologie ou barbarie |trans-title=Murray Bookchin, ecology or barbarism |url=https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2016/07/FERNANDEZ/55910 |date=July 2016 |publisher=Le Monde diplomatique |language=fr |access-date=February 23, 2023 |archive-date=November 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117083059/http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2016/07/FERNANDEZ/55910 |url-status=live }}</ref> Adopted by the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party]] (PKK) since 2005, Öcalan's project represents a major ideological shift away from their previous goal of establishing a [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] state.<ref name="utopia1"/><ref name="nyt-2015">{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/magazine/a-dream-of-utopia-in-hell.html |title=A Dream of Secular Utopia in ISIS' Backyard |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 24, 2015 |access-date=July 1, 2020 |archive-date=December 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161208171016/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/magazine/a-dream-of-utopia-in-hell.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="haaretz-2019">{{cite web |url=https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-amid-syria-s-darkness-a-democratic-egalitarian-and-feminist-society-emerges-1.7339983 |title=In the Heart of Syria's Darkness, a Democratic, Egalitarian and Feminist Society Emerges |last=Shilton |first=Dor |date=June 9, 2019 |publisher=[[Haaretz]] |access-date=July 2, 2020 |archive-date=July 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702001149/https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-amid-syria-s-darkness-a-democratic-egalitarian-and-feminist-society-emerges-1.7339983 |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition to the PKK, Öcalan's internationalist project was also well received by its Syrian counterpart, the [[Democratic Union Party (Syria)|Party of Democratic Union]] (PYD), which would become the first organization in the world to actually found a society based on the principles of democratic confederalism.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/27/syria-kurds-dreamt-of-rojava-revolution-assad-will-snuff-this-out |title=Syria's Kurds dreamt of a 'Rojava revolution'. Assad will snuff this out |last=Malik |first=Kenan |date=October 27, 2019 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=July 2, 2020 |archive-date=May 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525174030/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/27/syria-kurds-dreamt-of-rojava-revolution-assad-will-snuff-this-out |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.plutobooks.com/9781783719884/revolution-in-rojava/ |title=Revolution in Rojava Democratic Autonomy and Women's Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan |publisher=[[Pluto Books]] |access-date=July 2, 2020 |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622162411/https://www.plutobooks.com/9781783719884/revolution-in-rojava/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/opinion/trump-syria-kurds-turkey.html |title=What the World Loses if Turkey Destroys the Syrian Kurds |last=Krajeski |first=Jenna |date=October 14, 2019 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=July 2, 2020 |archive-date=July 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703075541/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/opinion/trump-syria-kurds-turkey.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On January 6, 2014, the cantons of [[Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria|Rojava]], in [[Syrian Kurdistan]], federated into autonomous municipalities, adopting a social contract which established a decentralized non-hierarchical society, based on principles of [[direct democracy]], [[feminism]], ecology, [[multiculturalism|cultural pluralism]], participatory politics and [[cooperativism|economic cooperativism]].<ref name="nyt-2015"/><ref name="haaretz-2019"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://newint.org/features/2020/06/11/big-story-kurds-betrayed-again |title=In the Autonomous Zones |last=Baird |first=Vanessa |date=June 22, 2020 |publisher=The New International |access-date=July 2, 2020 |archive-date=July 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701123436/https://newint.org/features/2020/06/11/big-story-kurds-betrayed-again |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Municipalism and communalism<!--'Libertarian communalism' and 'Communalism (Bookchin)' redirect here--> ===
Bookchin's vision of an ecological society is based on [[Participatory democracy|highly participatory]], [[grassroots]] politics, in which municipal communities democratically plan and manage their affairs through [[popular assembly]], a program he called '''communalism'''<!---boldface per WP:R#PLA-->. This democratic deliberation purposefully promotes autonomy and self-reliance, as opposed to centralized state politics. While this program retains elements of anarchism, it emphasizes a higher degree of organization (community planning, voting, and institutions) than general anarchism. In Bookchin's communalism, these autonomous municipal communities connect with each other via [[confederation]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bookchin |first=Murray  |url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/murray-bookchin-eirik-eiglad-free-cities |title=Free Cities: Communalism and the Left |language=en |access-date=March 18, 2022 |archive-date=April 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220425033549/https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/murray-bookchin-eirik-eiglad-free-cities |url-status=live }}</ref>

Starting in the 1970s, Bookchin argued that the arena for libertarian social change should be the municipal level. In 1980 Bookchin used the term "[[Municipalism|libertarian municipality]]" to describe a [[libertarian socialist]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Rafael |date=2016-03-22 |title=The New PKK: unleashing a social revolution in Kurdistan |url=https://mesopotamia.coop/the-new-pkk-unleashing-a-social-revolution-in-kurdistan/ |access-date=2023-07-24 |website=Co-operation in Mesopotamia |language=en-GB |archive-date=July 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724073312/https://mesopotamia.coop/the-new-pkk-unleashing-a-social-revolution-in-kurdistan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> system in which institutions of directly democratic assemblies would oppose and replace the [[State (polity)|state]] with a confederation of free municipalities.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Bookchin |first=M.|date=October 1991 |url=http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bookchin/gp/perspectives24.html |title=Libertarian Municipalism: An Overview. |magazine=Green Perspectives |number=24 |location=Burlington, Vermont}}</ref> In ''The Next Revolution'', Bookchin stresses the link that libertarian municipalism has with his earlier philosophy of social ecology. He writes:

{{blockquote|Libertarian Municipalism constitutes the politics of social ecology, a revolutionary effort in which freedom is given institutional form in public assemblies that become decision-making bodies.{{sfn|Bookchin|2015|p=96}}}}

Bookchin proposes that these institutional forms must take place within differently scaled local areas. In a 2001 interview he summarized his views this way:

{{blockquote|The overriding problem is to change the structure of society so that people gain power. The best arena to do that is the municipality—the city, town, and village—where we have an opportunity to create a face-to-face democracy.<ref name = Vanek>{{Cite magazine |last1=Bookchin |first1=Murray |first2=David |last2=Vanek |date=October 1, 2001 |magazine=[[Harbinger (zine)|Harbinger]], a Journal of Social Ecology |volume=2 |number=1 |publisher=Institute for Social Ecology |title=Interview with Murray Bookchin |url=https://social-ecology.org/wp/2001/10/harbinger-vol-2-no-1-%E2%80%94-murray-bookchin-interview/}}</ref>}}

Libertarian municipalism intends to create a situation in which the two powers—the municipal confederations and the nation state cannot coexist.<ref name = Vanek/>

====Municipalization as a foundation for an ecological society====
Bookchin posits that neither privatization nor nationalization can effectively pave the way toward an ecological society. He asserts that both models are deeply embedded in structures of domination, failing to address the root causes of environmental crises. In contrast, Bookchin advocates for municipalization as a core principle in his libertarian municipalist framework<ref>{{cite web |last1=Carter |first1=Mason |title=Home Libertarian Socialism Libertarian Municipalism: Theory to Build Socialism from Below |url=https://www.classwithmason.com/2024/11/libertarian-municipalism-theory-to.html |website=Class with Mason |date=November 9, 2024 }}</ref>

===Critique of privatization and nationalization===
Bookchin critiques private property as a central driver of both social and ecological harm, associating it with exploitation, domination, and the prioritization of profit over community and environmental well-being. According to Bookchin, systems based on private ownership promote competition and individualism, which he argues are incompatible with the cooperation and solidarity needed to build a fair and sustainable society.

Nationalization, often positioned as a remedy to capitalism's excesses, is also seen by Bookchin as inadequate. He contends that nationalization typically shifts control from private companies to centralized bureaucratic entities, merely replacing one form of dominance with another. In this state-centered model, the apparatus of the state, rather than the market, assumes authority over economic activities. This can lead to what Bookchin describes as a "privatized economy in a collectivized form," where workers remain detached from their labor and ecological exploitation persists.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Carter |first1=Mason |title=Libertarian Municipalism: Theory to Build Socialism from Below |url=https://www.classwithmason.com/2024/11/libertarian-municipalism-theory-to.html |website=Class with Mason |date=November 9, 2024 }}</ref>