[P2P-F] how should we think about markets ?

Thu Jan 19 07:30:14 CET 2017

That's a good overview IMO. "Abolishing markets" for me is a phrase
that conjures up images of imposing a uniform, monolithic
organizational template on society. What you describe, OTOH, is a good
example of an organic, emergent transition process. The former
approach is great for writing fictional utopias with meticulously
designed bike sheds -- but something no real-world transition process
will ever bear the slightest resemblance to.

On Wed, Jan 18, 2017 at 10:56 PM, Michel Bauwens
<michel at p2pfoundation.net> wrote:
> Answered this in an email to someone who believes markets themselves are the
> key issue, and therefore need to be abolished completely:
>
> "First of all, we distinguish markets from capitalism, and we see markets as
> having both disadvantages and advantages, as have the 3 other main modes of
> allocation, for example as described in the Structure of World History by
> Kojin Karatani, and Alan Page Fiske's 'Structure of Social Life'.
>
> We see that different historical periods have different configurations and
> 'dominations' of one mode above the others .... Capitalism, because of its
> extractivism and externalities is now hugely problematic, but it is hard to
> see how to eliminate markets completely without totalitarian coercion.
>
> Thus  it makes more sense in our view to focus on 2 interlocking strategies
>
> 1) the first is to re-embed markets in reciprocity mechanisms and as
> supporting the commons, and in fact we see this emerging and discuss this in
> our manuscript; we believe change does not descend ex nihilo from people who
> look at the system from outside and describe how they believe the world
> should work, but from actual praxis, and it is this praxis we examine. And
> what we see is commons-based productive communities aiming to re-discpline
> markets to their needs
>
> 2) second, we believe the role of the market will likely drastically
> diminish, on the condition we can export the current coordination mechanisms
> for immaterial work, which can already largely operate outside the market
> (free software , open design), to actual physical production, which will
> require both the development of open and contributory accounting, of other
> stigmergic mechanisms, but also shared and open supply chains; this will
> give the material basis of gradually increasing the mutual coordination of
> production outside of market mechanisms.
>
> While the first is well underway, the second has hardly started, and so, in
> this transition period, the focus will be in our opinion on expanding the
> commons, and re-embedding markets under reciprocity mechanims, ie.
> de-capitalizing the markets if you like, but while this proceeds, the
> conditions for the second strategy gradually improves."
>
> --
> Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org
>
> P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
>
> Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
>
> #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/
>
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-- 
Kevin Carson
Senior Fellow, Karl Hess Scholar in Social Theory
Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org

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