Prefigurative politics

Prefigurative politics are the modes of organization and social relationships that strive to reflect the future society being sought by the group.[1] It is building a new society within the shell of the old by living out the values and social structures you desire for the future [2] According to Carl Boggs, who coined the term, the desire is to embody "within the ongoing political practice of a movement [...] those forms of social relations, decision-making, culture, and human experience that are the ultimate goal".[3] Besides this definition, Leach also gave light to the definition of the concept stating that the term "refers to a political orientation based on the premise that the ends a social movement achieves are fundamentally shaped by the means it employs, and that movement should therefore do their best to choose means that embody or prefigure the kind of society they want to bring about".[4] Prefigurativism is the attempt to enact prefigurative politics.

  1. ^ Commons Volunteer Librarian; Smith, E. T. (2023-02-01). "Prefigurative Politics in Practice". The Commons. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  2. ^ "Understanding Prefigurative Politics: A Deep Dive". Class with Mason. Mason Carter. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  3. ^ Boggs, Carl. 1977. Marxism, Prefigurative Communism, and the Problem of Workers' Control. Radical America 11 (November), 100; cf. Boggs Jr., Carl. Revolutionary Process, Political Strategy, and the Dilemma of Power. Theory & Society 4,No. 3 (Fall), 359-93.
  4. ^ Leach, D. K. (2013). Prefigurative politics. The Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of social and political movements, 1004-1006.