This is a cross-post of a diagram and text we originally did for the P2P Foundation and which they first published on their wiki “http://blog.p2pfoundation.net”. It unexpectedly generated a lot comments. We took theme into account and updated the diagram for their site “http://CommonsTransition.org“, which generated further comments. A lot of discussion also happened on the excellent Facebook group “Friends of the P2P Foundation“, which you can join here.
“We do not live in an era of change, but in a change of eras” is the way Jan Rotmans from the University Rotterdam describes the structural changes impacting our societies. This is also the phrase Michel Bauwens chose to open his latest book yet to be published in English which title is likely to be close to “Towards a post-capitalist society with the Peer-to-Peer”.
For thinkers like Jan Rotmans and Michel Bauwens this change of eras is akin to the Industrial Revolution in the second half of the 19th century, and characterized by transitions in various fields. In a nutshell, our societies face 3 major tipping points:
- A change in social order from a central, hierarchically-controlled society to a horizontal, decentralized, and bottom-up working unit.
- A changing economic structure: where in the past large, bureaucratic organizations were necessary to produce cheap products, in the new digital economy it is possible to develop products and services locally on a small scale.
- A change in power relations: where once political influence and economies of scale determined access to resources, access to knowledge and information is now also accessible outside of political and social institutions.
Following this analysis, it is to gain further insights that we at blaqswans.org wanted to paint a big picture of the emerging post-capitalist paradigm, underpinned by peer-to-peer and collaborative dimensions. We started mapping various domains to go beyond the anecdotal evidence that such or such initiative is venturing into car-sharing or house swapping.
(click on the images for higher resolution)
We confirmed a few things as we drew this map:
- There is much more to this transition that the greenwashing offered by Uber and Airbnb, which are actually not peer-to-peer. This is precisely why we deliberately reused the shape of a honeycomb popularised by the “Collaborative Economy Honeycomb” infographic. It lists startup companies claiming to be part of that ‘sharing economy’, when many really are unbridled capitalism trying to further optimise the existing ‘selling economy’ – nothing wrong with selling but let’s not call it ‘sharing’ with the ethical claims usually attached to it.
- The intellectual work of theorising this new economy has now reached a critical mass that is too often overlooked by ‘mainstream’ economists, observers, and policy makers who treat it as fringe.
- Put together, the practical initiatives run at the grassroots level offer a credible sustainable alternative contradicting the eventual perception that the post-capitalist paradigm is a utopia dreamt up by isolated hippies. On the contrary, it is now possible to shop food regularly outside of mass retailers’ distribution networks, it is possible for a major French city like Grenoble, or Barcelona in Spain to be run by grassroots movements, and it is possible for farmers to produce in a biodynamic and commercially viable way to escape the vicious cycle of pesticides and high yields.
This map is very much work in progress and will be improved as we progress. We wanted to stop contemplating the problems of the current paradigm, and instead show how each of those issues has robust thinkers and influencers offering credible alternatives (we have chosen just a few to illustrate but there are obviously many more), and how those alternatives have started to be implemented to form a coherent system that will bring a post-capitalist society to life.
For this to be successful it will require a movement of movements, an alliance of separate movements, including a coalition of the global social and environmental justice movements, environmentalists, activists for the cancellation of debt, and so on. There is of course no guarantee of success. Every change requires a successful transition: that will be the challenge. But counting and mapping our troops is a first and necessary step to make this cause prevail.
Celine & Xav – 13 January 2016 – Paris
> High resolution links:
Pingback: Mapping the emerging post-capitalist paradigm and its main thinkers | occasional links & commentary
Pingback: Mapping the emerging Post-Capitalist Paradigm and its main Thinkers | BlaqSwans – Inspirational.today
I wonder what particular ideas by Varoufakis and Stiglitz (separately) prompted you to put them in the P2P precursors and influencers. In the first case I am rather clueless, in the second I can think of this publication being an example of quite different way of thinking: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1804018
The title is “post-capitalist thinkers” not P2P thinkers. Both Varoufakis and Stiglitz have a radical criticism of the current predator capitalist system and the anti-democratic practices of the international and european institutions (IMF, World Bank, and European union)
in the category ‘open data, open source, technology and political transparency’ i’m very much missing names like Richard Stallman, Eben Moglen, Jacob Appelbaum
Nice, but some topics are missing. Personnally I prefer a focus on topics rather than authors. Related to Vandana Shiva is for example the major topic “seed freedom”.
And I was just woirndneg about that too!
I have realized that car insurance providers know the cars and trucks which are liable to accidents and other risks. Additionally, these people know what types of cars are susceptible to higher risk along with the higher risk they’ve already the higher the premium charge. Understanding the very simple basics regarding car insurance will assist you to choose the right kind of insurance policy that may take care of the needs you have in case you get involved in any accident. Appreciate your sharing a ideas on your own blog.
Oh oh oh… Je moet je niet druk maken om wat je wel en niet kunt typen. Jij een rot dag en je brengt het toch weer vermakelijk. Ik vind je ( saaie) logjes heerlijk om te lezen. En zeer herkenbaar! Sterkte met je kids. En met jezelf!
"i suspect you were "stupid" enough to vote for mr "change we can believe in." and probably still don't realize he and his white masters made a fool of you. i can't think of a better example of ignorance."Is that you, Bush? Or perhaps your sidekick, Cheney? Or should I pronouce it Cheeney, as in cheesy, and Bush, as in shrub.
Douglas Rushkoff seems like he’d fit in somewhere between Jeremy Rifkin and Elisabeth Dmitrieff. His recent work has been focused on rethinking digital for a post-capitalist economy.
I am SO sorry that you are sick! That sounds very unelapsant. I hope you start to feel better soon. (Btw, myopic is such a great word…I applaud your vocabulary even when ill!)
It’s much easier to understand when you put it that way!
Mar30 Babs – I’m a man and would never notice such things but I think you’d find the most gorgeous man in an England uniform to be … when he plays … Philip Neville … no, wait, that’s not right … Joe Cole.Grazor – Hartley Hare is an abomination that haunts my childhood and I hope the evil, ragged vermin rots in hell! However, I understand that he is actually fine and undergoing therapy.
I told my kids we’d play after I found what I needed. Damnit.
in sci fiction have the fup of star trek and the tomorrowland movie is pos capitalism.
I found myself nodding my noggin all the way thhorgu.
If you’re reading this, you’re all set, pardner!
including flooding, streambank erosion, and a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Read more about Managing Rainwater in the Conservation Garden here, and also Resources for Water Conservation for the Conservation
ПожалуйÑта-помогите ÑвÑзатьÑÑ Ñ Ñ€Ð¾Ð´Ñтвенниками-ÐÐУМ ДОРФМÐРи ФРЕД БУРШТЕЙРмы в ОДÐОКЛÐСÐИКÐÐ¥ и СКÐЙПЕ – genadij lanis – БОЛЬШОЕ СПÐСИБО
Trey,I don’t think it’s so much a failure of logic but of faulty beginning primacies.Many liberals suffer from the King Charles II’s dead fish. They fail to check reality and assumes that many of the problems they believe in are reality, never really checking if reality as they understand it is actually reality. They jump on an explanation instinctively without checking differentials diagnoses. The wage gap being the prototypical example. So, I don’t think it’s so much that they’re less rational…but that they skip steps and have a more incomplete knowledge commonly. This, is at least how I see it.
Jag Ã¥ min sambo ska till vÃ¥ren bygga oss ett hus Ã¥ i ett hus behöver man möbler… Detta bord skulle bli en bra början;) Gillar pÃ¥ FB!! Hälsningar, Sophia
Pfff ! Quand ma prose ne sera plus présentable, mon revers à une main poussif même quand la balle est bien centrée et le cadran de la balance se stabilisera au-dessus des 87 kg, ce jour-là oui je commencerai à m’inquiéter du reflet de mon avatar dans le miroir.
This site is like a classroom, except I don’t hate it. lol
Your’s is a point of view where real intelligence shines through.
Tu t’y connais en politique internationale mon frankie, éclaires-nous de ton savoir qu’on rigoles un peu.Quand on voit les conneries publiées dans les leaks de la Mosquée d’Orsay, on est impressionné par le talent caché de la franchouillardise.Faudra plus que des slogans et des affirmations péremptoires pour te donner une crédibilité.
You have done a great job on this article. It’s very readable and highly intelligent. You have even managed to make it understandable and easy to read. You have some real writing talent. Thank you.
DiogenASS: Oh, please! your ass clown!Yea, lead bullets are a hazard for the animals health!You mean tire weights and fishing weights are a hazard to the environment?Approximately 50 million pounds of lead is used annually to produce tire weights worldwide in autos and light trucks, if you use anything other than lead shrapnel will be flying all over the roads, not mention the deaths attributed to the tire blow-outs from the shrapnel.I guess you have to be a Harvard grad to figure that one out?Riiiiiight!This administration is looney-toons!
http://www.newfitnessbooster.com
thanks for sharing