It doesn't get into the details of the system, but I felt that The Dispossessed was a good look into what it was like to practically live under that sort of a s

It doesn't get into the details of the system, but I felt that The Dispossessed was a good look into what it was like to practically live under that sort of a system. Bureaucracy that was clunky, slow, and led to inefficiencies. Poor living standards even for highly educated people. Time spent doing manual labor despite skills that could be better applied to other things. Yet a sense of togetherness due to the relative lack of class differences and a general welcoming of the other rather than the atomization Shevek experienced off-world.