How Oxford Brookes’ Alternative Societies Network is Reimagining Modern Economic Policy

By engaging with and showcasing grassroots communities and alternative business models, the network shows that viable, democratic alternatives to market capitalism not only exist, but are already thriving.

In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher famously declared that “There Is No Alternative” to free-market capitalism, a slogan (often abbreviated as TINA), that shaped modern economic policy and convinced many that alternative ways of organizing society were impossible. The Alternative Societies Network at Oxford Brookes University is directly challenging this notion. 

The Alternative Societies Network was founded in 2021 and celebrates its 5th anniversary in November. It was inspired by the American sociologist Erik Olin Wright’s project, Real Utopias, that explored alternatives to capitalism. Wright argued that optimistic local spaces could serve as practical political movements against the capitalist status quo.  

What began as an organic group of passionate researchers at Oxford Brookes has expanded into a thriving interdisciplinary network spanning universities, independent research bodies, and community organisations across the UK and internationally -  from Buenos Aires to Brighton. Visiting speakers have attended bringing insights from their experiences in workers’ co-operatives, mutual aid groups, new platform ecosystems, Universal Basic Income (UBI) trials, care co-operatives, and alternative farming initiatives. 

The network is co-led by Associate Professor of Sociology and Politics, Dr. Neal Harris, and Dr Robin Jervis, Principal Lecturer in Politics at the University of Brighton. The network crosses disciplines, with regular collaborations with experts from Business, Economics, and Organizational Studies, including Oxford Brookes researchers Prof. Maria Daskalaki, Dr. Guy Huber and Andy Kilmister.

As the network expanded, its core focus evolved. While early research examined formal economic models, five years of study revealed a key insight: people participate in spaces like community choirs, local allotments, and worker cooperatives, not just out of political ideology, but for belonging, care, and mutual support.

This insight has driven several major research milestones. A workshop series on Platform Cooperatives, funded by the Sociological Review Foundation, brought together more than 60 international activists, researchers, and practitioners to explore democratic ownership in online spaces. Currently, a British Academy-funded project is facilitating network leads Neal Harris and Robin Jervis to speak to members of UK worker cooperatives, from across the British Isles, to learn about their lived experiences, and to examine how identifying which such spaces shapes communities.

Now, the network is increasingly turning its attention to artificial intelligence, or AI. Researchers are investigating how AI can be harnessed to create democratic, empowering spaces, while also addressing the risks technology might pose to the survival and growth of community-led alternatives.

The network continues to connect academics, campaigners, and community organizers through regular public events. Its next event takes place on 2nd December in Glasgow, focusing on how societal structures can be transformed for true inclusion rather than forcing marginalized individuals to fit into existing systems.

To join the network's extensive international mailing list, receive event updates, or collaborate on research, please contact Dr. Neal Harris at Oxford Brookes University. You can also Find out more about the Alternative Societies Network on the Oxford Brookes Unscripted Podcast.