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What is a Commons-based society?

on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 11:27

A commons-based society refers to a shift in values and policies away from the market-based system that dominates modern society, especially over the past 30 years. The foundation of the market is narrowly focused on private wealth, while the commons is built upon what we all share—air, water, public spaces, public health, public services, the Internet, cultural endowments and much more.

One of the most compelling ideas being raised today is the possibility of evolving from a market-based society to a commons-based society. The commons has always been an element of human civilization. But its central role in sustaining all societies has recently been rediscovered, inspiring new lines of thinking in fields ranging from high technology to public health to business.

A commons-based society is one that values and protects commons assets, managing them for the benefit of everyone. Market-based solutions would be valuable tools in a commons-based society, as long as they do not undermine the workings of the commons itself.

 

 

 

SOURCE
http://onthecommons.org/what-commons-based-society (retrieved on 17/12/2010)
 
 

 

 

LICENSE
This document can be distributed under the Creative Commons License - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic


 

 

Comments

janosabel's picture

In my understanding, resulting from the readings I have done, the commons based society is one where the "free gifts of nature" such as land, and other natural resources---including non-material ones like airwaves and aircraft landing slots---are hel in common. Currently this is not the case. To establish a commons based society, the dominant economic model has to be upgraded and ownership and control of the above natural resources will have to revert the community---local, regional, national, possibly global---as appropriate.

The study course needs to be based on resource books such as Capitalism 3.0