Decentering the enterprise, recentering the social Katherine Gibson Please cite but do not reproduce without permission of the author k.gibson@westernsydney.edu.au Social Enterprise for Sustainable Societies 6 th EMES International Conference Belgium
1. The Diverse Economies Research Program • Inspirations • Approaches 2. Situating EMES Research 3. Social enterprise and sustainability
Decentering the economy , recentering the ethical Decentering the enterprise , recentering the social
The Great Acceleration
The Great Acceleration In little over two generations – or a single lifetime – humanity (or until very recently a small fraction of it) has become a planetary-scale geological force. Hitherto human activities were insignificant compared with the biophysical Earth System, and the two could operate independently. However, it is now impossible to view one as separate from the other. .
The Great Acceleration trends provide a dynamic view of the emergent, planetary-scale coupling, via globalisation, between the socio-economic system and the biophysical Earth System .
OECD countries = 74% global GDP = 18% global population
If our species does not survive the ecological crisis, it will probably be due to our failure to imagine and work out new ways to live with the earth, to rework ourselves and our high energy, high consumption, and hyper- instrumental societies adaptively….. We will go onwards in a different mode of humanity, or not at all. (2008) Val Plumwood
Making Other Worlds Possible: Performing Diverse Economies Edited by Gerda Roelvink, Kevin St Martin and J.K. Gibson-Graham 2015 University of Minnesota Press
2013 University of Minnesota Press
1 The Diverse Economies Research Program
1996 Original Blackwell edition 2011 Turkish translation
What we are up against….. The Phillips National Economy Machine Monetary National Income Analogue Computer, MONIAC
“ extending the range of entities at work in the world and actively participating in transforming some of them into faithful and stable intermediaries” Bruno Latour, Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory 2007: 257
Thus economists, for instance, are not simply describing some economic infrastructure which has always been there from the beginning of time. They are revealing calculative abilities in actors who did not know before [that] they had them and making sure that some of these new competences are sunk into common sense through the many practical tools of bank accounts, property rights, cash register slips, and other plug-ins. Bruno Latour 2007: 257
Capitalocentrism a system of knowledge that enrols all economic identity into capitalism — positioning a wide range of practices as • the opposite of capitalism, • subordinate to capitalism, • a complement of capitalism or • existing within capitalism’s orbit
EXPLANATION Ethical, political vs Structural KNOWLEDGE Performative vs Realist / reflective
…roles and motivations … EMPLOYEE higher and higher wages BUSINESS OWNER more and more private profit CONSUMER cheaper and cheaper goods PROPERTY OWNER higher and higher private returns INVESTOR more and more private returns
Company drinks
Diverse Economies Enterprise Labour Transactions MARKET CAPITALIST WAGE
Diverse Economies Enterprise Labour Transactions MARKET CAPITALIST WAGE ‘ALTERNATIVE’ ‘ALTERNATIVE’ ‘ALTERNATIVE’ CAPITALIST MARKET PAID NON-MARKET NON- UNPAID CAPITALIST
Class Relations • capitalist • communal or collective • independent or self-employed • feudal • slave
HOUSEHOLD INDIGENOUS SOCIAL SECTOR KIN-BASED ECONOMY ECONOMIES ALTERNATIVE MARKETS COMMUNITY ENTERPRISES INFORMAL SECTOR CULTURALLY EMBEDDED GIFTS VOLUNTARY ECONOMIES SECTOR LOCAL COOPERATIVES ECONOMIES CURRENCIES OF SURPLUS PRODUCER- CONSUMER ALTERNATIVE RELATIONS FINANCE
DIVERSE ECONOMIES Transactions Enterprise MARKET Labour CAPITALIST ALTERNATIVE WAGE ALTERNATIVE MARKET CAPITALIST ALTERNATIVE Fair trade PAID State-owned Alternative currencies Socially responsible Self-employed Underground market Non-profit Reciprocal labour Barter In kind NON-CAPITALIST NON-MARKET Work-for-welfare Worker co-operative Household sharing UNPAID Sole proprietorship Gift giving Housework Community enterprise Hunting, fishing Volunteer Feudal Gleaning Self-provisioning Slave Theft, poaching Slave labour
DIVERSE ECONOMIES Property Finance PRIVATE MAINSTREAM ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE PRIVATE MARKET State managed assets State banks Customary (clan) Credit Unions Community land trusts Micro-finance Community financial OPEN ACCESS institutions Atmosphere NON-MARKET International waters Sweat equity Open source IP Family lending Donations Interest free loans
Red Women’s Workshop 1983
Feminist Economics 1996
An experiment is “a crucible in which theories, discourses, practices, interests and materials can be gathered together and elaborated” Fabian Muniesa and Michel Callon 2007
Socio-technical achievements Making unpaid labour visible Standardized measurement Impact modelling Public budget calculations Institutions of management Social movement struggles
Capitalist growth machine Development = LABOUR higher and higher wages ENTERPRISE more and more private profit MARKETS cheaper and cheaper goods PROPERTY more and more privatizing FINANCE unregulated gambling
KEY CONCERNS OF COMMUNITY ECONOMIES Encountering Distributing others surplus Surviving well MARKET CAPITALIST WAGE ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE MARKET ALTERNATIVE CAPITALIST PAID Fair trade State-owned Self-employed Alternative currencies Socially responsible Reciprocal labor Underground market Non-profit In kind Barter NON-CAPITALIST Work-for-welfare NON-MARKET UNPAID Worker co-operative Household sharing Sole proprietorship Housework Gift giving Community enterprise Volunteer Hunting, fishing Feudal Self-provisioning Gleaning Slave Slave labor Theft, poaching
KEY CONCERNS OF COMMUNITY ECONOMIES Investing in a future Commoning MAINSTREAM PRIVATE ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE MARKET PRIVATE State banks State managed assets Credit Unions Customary (clan) Micro-finance Community managed Community financial resources eg land trusts institutions NON-MARKET OPEN ACCESS Sweat equity Atmosphere Family lending International waters Donations Open source IP Interest free loans
Community economy concerns surviving well together and with the earth distributing surplus ethical encounters with others commoning investing in futures consuming sustainably
the community economy is an acknowledged space of social interdependency and self-formation. Anything but a blueprint, it is an unmapped and uncertain terrain that calls forth exploratory conversation and political/ethical acts of decision. Gibson-Graham, 2006: 166
ENTERPRISE Distributing surplus CAPITALIST how do we generate and ‘ALTERNATIVE’ distribute society’s surplus CAPITALIST so as to enhance: State-owned Socially responsible Non-profit NON-CAPITALIST Surviving well Encountering others Worker co-operative Commoning Sole proprietorship Investing in a future Community enterprise Feudal Slave
An ethical audit sheet 1. survival/surplus decisions Survival Surplus 2. surplus distribution decisions Survival Surplus Interest Insurance Rent Taxes Retained earnings R&D Shareholder dividends CEO salaries Executive bonuses Speculation Social or environmental ends?
A People’s Account of Cooperative Enterprise
The IYC celebrates a different way of doing business, one focused on human need not human greed, where members who own and govern the business, collectively enjoy the benefits instead of all profits going just to shareholders.
http://www.mapsforamerica.com/solidarityeconomy CheckSpring Bank 69 East 167th Street Anthology Film Archives Solidarity economy 32 Second Avenue enterprises New York City Hull Street Community Garden 196 Hull Street CAMBA Economic Development Corp. 1720 Church Ave.
Social enterprise
2. EMES research Isomorphism Privatisation State subsidies CAPITALIST Earned income ‘ALTERNATIVE’ Work Integration CAPITALIST Social mission State-owned Socially responsible Non-profit Debates around social enterprise NON-CAPITALIST identity and what constitutes the ‘social economy’ Worker co-operative Community enterprise Sole proprietorship Feudal Slave
3. Social enterprises and sustainability What kinds of connections will build sustainability?
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