A new vision for building economic democracy: Highlights from the 2026 Ellen Meiskins Wood Lecture
On April 22, the Faculty of Arts hosted the annual Ellen Meiksins Wood Lecture, in partnership with the Broadbent Institute and support from the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung – New York Office. The 2026 Ellen Meiksins Wood Prize winner is founding editor of Jacobin Magazine Bhaskar Sunkara, recognized for his role in laying the intellectual foundations for this generation’s socialist movements. Sunkara delivered a keynote lecture dissecting market socialism against capitalism.
From left to right: Faculty of Arts Dean Amy Peng, Clement Nocos, Director of Policy and Engagement at the Broadbent Institute, award recipient Bhaskar Sunkara, Founding Editor of Jacobin Magazine, and Stefan Liebich, Business Economist at Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.
The Ellen Meiksins Wood Prize is given annually to an academic, labour activist or writer and recognizes outstanding contributions in political theory, social or economic history, human rights, or sociology. The award strives to acknowledge Ellen’s legacy of historical scholarship on political thought, with previous recipients including Grace Blakeley, Isabella Weber, and Armine Yalnizyan. The lecture series serves as an important platform to facilitate conversation, bring forward ideas, and build community.
In his lecture, Sunkara demonstrated a new vision for building economic democracy, removed from market dependence or centralized planning. He points out that institutional change and a new path that learns from the failures of the past requires a new “market socialism” that offers real economic democracy, and argues that change must involve transforming existing institutions while building new ones.
See the lecture titled Market Socialism Against Capitalism here (external link) . To learn more about the Ellen Meiksins Wood Prize and Lecture, visit the Broadbent Institute website (external link) .