I was wondering if you knew any good books about anarchist economics that would help me in converstations about technological progress in an anarchist society. I don't have any problems with the very basic arguement that technological progress will depend on the priority the people decide for it in the given society or community, but other people think that's a little too vague of an answer. this seems to be the only thing keeping one of my friends from calling himself an anarchist.

Hello There!!!

Since your question asked about books, I am going to limit the findings to books. However, I would also recommend that you look through journal articles. Depending on what libraries you have access to, you might want to search through the Alternative Press Index, which indexes a great deal of left-leaning periodicals that are missed in the more mainstream indexes. Just check your library's catalog to see if they have it.

I am also going to recommend books that seemed to be present in a lot of libraries. That way, these books should be fairly easy to find at many public or academic libraries. I used WorldCat, which is a world wide catalog that most public libraries subscribe to. So, if you can not find the book at your local library you can get it through interlibrary loan. You might also want to check out an infoshop near you. At http://www.infoshop.org/directory_namerica.html there is a directory of infoshops. For more information about what infoshops are http://www.infoshop.org/infoshop_page.html

As far books about anarchism and technological progress, I found several. Murray Bookchin along with others under the banner of Social Ecology have written a great deal about this subject. Here are few titles that deal with anarchism, technology and economics.

Title: Post-scarcity anarchism,a
Author(s): Bookchin, Murray, 1921-
Publication: Berkeley [Calif.] Ramparts Press
Year: 1971
Description: 288 p. 22 cm.
Language: English
Contents: Post-scarcity anarchism.--Ecology and revolutionary thought.--Towards a liberatory technology.--The forms of freedom.--Listen, Marxist!--A note on affinity groups.--A discussion on "Listen, Marxist!"--The May-June events in France: 1. France: a movement for life.--The May-June events in France: 2. Excerpts from a letter.--Desire and need.
Standard No: ISBN: 087867005X LCCN: 75-158914

Title: Toward a liberatory technology /
Author(s): Bookchin, Murray, 1921-
Publication: New York, N.Y. : Anarchos,
Year: 1975
Description: 42 p. ; 28 cm.
Language: English

Title: Social ecology after Bookchin /
Author(s): Light, Andrew,; 1966-
Publication: New York :; Guilford Press,
Year: 1998
Description: xiv, 401 p. ; 23 cm.
Language: English
Series: Democracy and ecology;
Standard No: ISBN: 1572303794 (acid-free paper); LCCN: 98-35447

Here are a few classic texts on anarchism and economic questions that might provide an historic framework.

Title: Anarchism ; & Anarchist communism :
[two essays] /
Author(s): Kropotkin, Petr Alekseevich, kniaz', 1842-1921. ; Walter, Nicolas. ; Kropotkin, Petr Alekseevich,; kniaz',; 1842-1921. ; Anarchist communism.
Corp Author(s): Paul Avrich Collection (Library of Congress)
Publication: London : Freedom Press,
Year: 1987
Description: 64 p. ; 21 cm.
Language: English
Series: Anarchist classics;
Standard No: ISBN: 0900384344 (pbk.) LCCN: 88-128377

Title: Anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism /
Author(s): Rocker, Rudolf, 1873-1958.
Publication: London : Freedom Press,
Year: 1973, ?
Description: 48 p. ; 22 cm.
Language: English
Series: Anarchist classics;
Standard No: ISBN: 0900384050 : LCCN: 74-186686

Although not explicitly anarchist, a lot of the "parecon" work that Michael Albert has been doing might loosley fall under the anarchist banner depending on who you ask.

Title: Parecon :
life after capitalism /
Author(s): Albert, Michael, 1947-
Publication: London ; New York : Verso,
Year: 2003
Description: 311 p. ; 23 cm.
Language: English
Standard No: ISBN: 185984698X

There are many anarchists that find the very notion of technological progress problematic. For a good introduction to these arguments you might want to check out...

Title: Questioning technology :a critical anthology /
Author(s): Zerzan, John. ; Carnes, Alice,; 1942-
Publication: London : Freedom Press,
Year: 1988
Description: 222 p. ; 21 cm.
Language: English

If hope this helps you get started. If we can help you with anything else please let us know.

Thanks for using our service!!!

Jonny