In Chapter 1, I looked at alternative economies, with social dimensions coming more to the fore towards the end. In this chapter, I will turn to social alternatives in education, communes, food counterculture, social centres, criminal justice, and welfare. The cases discussed are chosen for the following reasons: they provide alternatives to dominant important social institutions of capitalism, the market, education, the family, punishment, individualism, and globalization; they are prevalent and important alternatives that can be found widely in practice; they have theoretical substance that explain their meaning and aims; there are literatures about them. I have differentiated these from the economic alternatives in Chapter 1 to break up the book and because, while having economic dimensions, they are situated primarily in social institutions of society. This, along with themes they share, are what links them. These links should become clear as the chapter progresses.

Alternative education

Free universities are one type of co-op (Gander, 2016). A developed example was the Social Sciences Centre in Lincoln in the UK (Bonnett, 2013; Class War University, 2013), and they can be found all over the world. They are, in part, a response to marketized higher education, which is expensive. Students must pay high fees in many places in the world. So, some free universities provide education free of cost, taught by unpaid volunteers. They are open to tutors and students regardless of their income or qualifications. Students do not need qualifications to study, and tutors do not have to have certificates in their area to teach, just knowledge and a willingness and enthusiasm to share it. They are a reaction to the managerialism of universities, where responsiveness to citizens of the university, students, and staff has been reduced and institutions are governed more like corporations under managerial power. So free universities are run by their members, with co-operative control. They are also an alternative to universities being operated like businesses to make money, rather than with goals of education and the public good. Free co-operative universities are about education and the public good again. In my town, there is the Free University Brighton.