Join political philosopher Lisa Herzog in dialogue with Sam de Canio, King’s College, London and Stuart White, Jesus College, Oxford to discuss her book The Democratic Marketplace: How a More Equal Economy can Save our Political Ideals.

Democracy has been hollowed out by capitalism. A narrow view of markets and their aims—prioritizing efficiency, profit, and growth—now dominates thinking about democracy itself. Citizens are ignorant of the deep principles of self-governance, having long since adopted a facile equation between democracy and voting as a consumer choice. Lisa Herzog argues that democracy is still possible, but only if democratic values get embedded in everyday experience—including economic experience. That requires new ways of thinking about markets and their goals.

The Democratic Marketplace theorizes the foundational structures of a democratic economy, in which markets are not just tools for maximizing profit via exploitation and extraction. To this end, employees are empowered to participate in corporate governance. Economic disparities are curbed so that citizens can negotiate their inevitable differences on a truly equal footing. And while a democratic economy need not eschew growth, it does renounce today’s growth-at-all-costs expectations, instead balancing growth with goals like ecological sustainability and the preservation of time outside of work. Democratic economics also entails implementing reforms in ways that take seriously the perspectives, experiences, and skills of the whole population.

These are not utopian dreams, Herzog contends. The proposals that follow from the theory of democratic economics are already being tested around the world. And the shift in social norms that they necessitate is already under way.

Speakers

Lisa Herzog works at the intersection of political philosophy and economic thought. She is Professor of Political Philosophy in the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Groningen, where she is the Director of the Center for Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and since January 2023, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy. She holds a master’s in economics from LMU Munich, an MSt in Philosophy, and DPhil in Political Theory from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

She has published on the philosophical dimensions of markets, liberalism and social justice, ethics in organizations, and political epistemology. Her books include Inventing the Market: Smith, Hegel, and Political Theory (OUP, 2016) and Citizen Knowledge: Markets, Experts, and the Infrastructure of Democracy (OUP, 2023).

Sam DeCanio is Reader ion Political Economy at King’s College, London. His research has examined broad questions regarding the nature of the modern state, the historical forces that led to its emergence, and the epistemic problems confronting modern democratic politics. His publications include Democracy and the Origins of the American Regulatory State (Yale UP, 2015).

Stuart White is Nicholas Drake Fellow in Politics at Jesus College and Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations, University of Oxford. His research draws on philosophy, intellectual and political history, and engages public policy to explore proposed alternatives to capitalism and democratic renewal. His books include Radical Republicanism: Recovering the Tradition's Popular Heritage (co-edited with Bruno Leipold and Karma Nabulsi; OUP, 2020), and The Wealth of Freedom: Radical Republican Political Economy (OUP, 2025)