An activist and a philosopher discuss how privatization harms society and how we can challenge it.

Privatization has been on the right-wing agenda for years. Health care, schools, Social Security, public lands, the military, prisons—all are considered fair game. Through stories, analysis, impassioned argument—even song lyrics—Si Kahn and Elizabeth Minnich show that corporations are, by their very nature, unable to fulfill effectively what have traditionally been the responsibilities of the government. They make a powerful case that the market is not the measure of all things, and that a vital public sector is an indispensable component of a healthy democracy.

“If you care about your children’s education, the quality of the air you breathe and the water you drink, affordable health care or Social Security, you need to read The Fox in the Henhouse…. Kahn and Minnich have given us a blueprint of how to organize now and protect our country and our future.” —Jan Schakowsky, U.S. House of Representatives

“The Fox in the Henhouse…provides analytic tools for challenging corporate America’s sale of democracy, honors legacies of resistance, and moves us to a vision of hope and action challenging the privatization of our lives and dreams.” —Chandra Talpade Mohanty, educator and author of Feminism Without Borders

“Inspiring to read, this book will be of great value to organizers, activists, and citizens of conscience…. Nothing less than our democracy is at stake when extremists want to roll back our hard-earned rights. [This book] offers a spirited blueprint for all citizens who care about renewing America’s best and most generous traditions.” —Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor, The Nation

The Fox in the Henhouse takes an in-depth look at the growing practice of privatization-what it is, what it does to our society, and how we can stop it.

Privatisation is one of the most important political and economic developments of our time, affecting virtually every person and state in the world. The purpose of The Fox in the Henhouse is to present, in clear, direct terms, an analysis of privatisation that will help people understand what is happening to them and what they can do about it.

It gives people on all sides of many different privatisation struggles (over hospitals, schools, sanitation, water, Social Security, the military, public lands, the postal service, national parks, prisons) the arguments that have been used to place privatization at the center of the corporate agenda and to dominate the public debate.

It also provides a historical framework that allows readers to center their thinking in questions of what it means to build a democratic society. And it provides the counter-arguments that people need both to argue and to fight back.