Building a society-centred economy

A guest post by Peter Ellis, author of 'The Accidental Societist: How to build a fairer economy, politics and society'

Photo by Meizhi Lang on Unsplash

This is a guest post by Peter Ellis, author of The Accidental Societist: How to build a fairer economy, politics and society and director of The Society Project.

Most governments today limit their economic ambition to making our deeply unequal market economy work a little better. They focus on redistribution – using tax, debt and public spending to mitigate the effects of inequality – rather than reforming the underlying structures that produce it in the first place. But this is an approach bound to fail over time. The economy trundles on under the logic of shareholder supremacy and financial extraction, not social purpose or shared prosperity.

A vibrant, innovative, and wealth-producing private sector will always be an essential part of a flourishing economy. But the monopoly it currently enjoys over economic value creation is neither inevitable nor justifiable. The private sector, as it exists today, is structured to serve a narrow class of owners and investors, not the public at large. If we are serious about building a fairer society, we must broaden our economic imagination and start designing institutions that embed fairness at source, rather than patch it on after the fact.

This is not a fantasy. Around the world, there are already growing examples of purpose-driven firms, steward-owned companies, public-benefit corporations, and community wealth-building initiatives that operate on a different logic. What binds them together is a simple but powerful principle: that enterprise should serve society, not the other way around. In this alternative sector, profit is not abolished – it is simply repurposed. Surpluses are reinvested to support long-term objectives, not extracted by distant shareholders. Employees, consumers and communities have a say in how businesses are run. Ethics shape decisions. Purpose determines outcomes.

The UK already possesses some of the institutional tools to grow this kind of economy. The British Business Bank, for example, currently manages over £4 billion in capital and can make direct investments of up to £60 million to support British firms. If this funding were directed towards companies with social missions – those committed to affordability, sustainability and long-term public benefit – it could begin to expand the sector within the economy that counters the excesses of financialised capitalism. Energy companies that prioritise social tariffs and long-term decarbonisation. Housing associations that innovate in ownership and tenure. Water utilities that reinvest in infrastructure rather than extract dividends.

Pension funds offer another major opportunity to reshape the economy in line with public purpose. These vast reservoirs of long-term capital are ultimately owned by workers, yet they are too often invested with little regard for the social impact they generate. Instead of fuelling extractive business models or speculative finance, pensions could be mobilised to build the foundations of a fairer economy. That means investing in enterprises that deliver not only stable financial returns for savers, but tangible social benefits – such as affordable housing, green infrastructure, care services, or purpose-driven businesses.

This shift also demands a reorientation of our political imagination. For too long, we have treated redistribution as the endpoint of fairness. But redistribution alone is too dependent on the willingness of governments to act – and too vulnerable to reversal when power changes hands. Nationalisation, too, has its limits. It is often driven by crisis, lacks permanence, and risks becoming disconnected from any sense of shared ownership or accountability. If we want lasting change, we must create institutions that outlive individual administrations and embed democratic control into the fabric of the economy.

None of this removes the need for progressive taxation. The growing momentum behind wealth taxes should be welcomed – they remain vital for addressing extreme concentrations of economic power and funding essential public services. But even the most well-designed tax system cannot compensate for an economy that concentrates ownership, power, and opportunity. Taxation alone cannot deliver a fairer economy.

A more just future demands more than smarter policy or better messaging. It requires a fundamentally different economic settlement – one where the economy is not simply tolerated by society but shaped by it. One where people are not just consumers or taxpayers, but co-owners and co-producers of the value that sustains our collective life. Society already underwrites public debt, funds essential services, and bears the costs when markets fail. It is time we demanded something more in return: an economy governed by shared purpose, rooted in democratic rights, and organised around the common good.

This is a guest post by Peter Ellis, author of The Accidental Societist: How to build a fairer economy, politics and society and director of The Society Project.

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