Property‐Owning Democracy and the Socialization of Land

ABSTRACT There is a growing urgency to address economic and ecological injustices related to land use and distribution. One of the most pressing concerns includes the increasing acquisition of land for investment purposes. The financialization of land contributes to the expansion of industrial agriculture as well as growing inequality and rising costs in the value of land. In light of these issues, an egalitarian approach to socializing productive capital might seem like a good solution. In this article, I argue that socialization, as conceived in some contemporary models of property‐owning democracy (POD), encounters two problems as a solution to the financialization of land. First, insofar as POD theorizes property ownership in terms of corporate share ownership, it does not ensure sufficient control over an asset by its owner. Second, because land is a source of natural capital, and, therefore, susceptible to ecological depletion, it should not be treated like other income‐producing assets on the POD model. I conclude with a proposal for how such theories might be modified to address the special requirements of land in their approach to socialization.