This book investigates notions of the individual, society, the state, economic relations and historical change that exist in the political left by drawing on contemporary philosophical, political and social thought. Using a discourse perspective, this work brings together the many fractious strains in the left, including social democracy, anarchism, communism and market socialism, and discusses them in terms of their relationships with each other. Not only does the study disentangle the left from liberal capitalism and progressive movements-such as those against racism and inequality-it sees the current left as intertwined with its history and its visions of the future.

In Liberal Progressivism, Gordon Hak makes the case for the value of theory and philosophy in understanding the day-to-day political realm of elections, politicians, scandals, fund-raising, and law-making. Running through the book is the big question of how political attitudes and actions are philosophically grounded: why do people believe what they do? Framed as a debate between liberal progressivism and the Marxist-informed left, and between liberal progressives and the non-university-educated working class, an informant named "Gord" is introduced. Drawing on his life experience he acts as a guide into the worlds of liberal progressivism, the non-university-educated working class, and the Marxist-informed intellectual-left modes of existence that he has personally experienced. In 11 chapters, the book presents an appreciation of nonbinary relationships, open-ended dialectics, complex systems and equilibrium theory, and the importance of emotions in political life. Through a transdisciplinary approach, the book delves into the interconnecting the worlds of politics, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, history, and epistemology to produce a celebration of political theory which deserves to be widely read by students, scholars and activists.

The history of British Columbia's economy in the 20th century is inextricably bound to the development of the forest industry. In this comprehensive study, Gordon Hak approaches this link from the perspective of workers and employers in the industry, examining the two main institutions that structured this relationship during the Fordist era: the companies and the unions. Hak investigates the broad relationship between capital and labour in a historical context, focusing on the corporations and their employees, but also taking account of the roles played by the state and environmental organizations. Drawing on theories of Fordism, the labour process, and discursive subjectivity, he relates daily routines of production and profit-making to broader forces of unionism, business ideology, ecological protest, technological change, and corporate concentration. The struggle of the small business sector to survive in the face of corporate growth, the interior and coastal histories of the industry, the transformations in capital-labour relations during the period, and the forestry industry's encounter with the emerging environmental movement are all considered in Hak's eloquent analysis. Columbia, Capital and Labour in the British Columbia Forest Industry will be essential reading for anyone interested in the business, natural resource, political, social, and labour history of the province.