Why is democracy so broken and how might it be fixed? The answer to both questions can be found in the flows of credit and investment bound up with finance capital, says Mike McCarthy, a sociologist and the director of community studies at UC Santa Cruz.
Today, finance guides and constrains our politics, but there is no reason why this must be so. In this talk, recorded at BESI on February 23, 2026, McCarthy develops a political and social theory of emancipatory change rooted in the interconnectedness of finance and democracy. Inspired by ancient Athens, where small groups chosen by lottery were used to ensure democratic participation, he shows how democracy and working-class power can be strengthened by creating new deliberative forms of financial governance, focusing on the inclusion of historically excluded groups.
His proposals for democratic financial institutions point the way to imbuing finance with a socio-environmental purpose and the funding of a just green transition, social housing, and other necessary public goods. These financial institutions might just be the first step toward a whole new kind of economy.
