The Foundational Economy and Citizenship: Comparative Perspectives on Civil Repair

Description

With thinking around the foundational economy becoming increasingly influential, this interdisciplinary collection sets out its role in renewing citizenship and informing policy. Drawing on case studies in areas of social and economic concern, it explores how foundational experiments can foster collective consumption and promote social justice. The principles of the modern foundational economy and its role in renewing citizenship and informing public policy are explored for the first time in this instructive collection. Challenging mainstream social and economic thinking, it shows how foundational economy experiments at different scales can foster radical social innovation through collective, rather than private, consumption. An interdisciplinary group of respected European academics provide case studies of initiatives and interventions around policy cornerstones including housing, food supply and water and waste management. They build a judicious evidence base of the growing relevance of foundational economic thinking and its potential to provide a new political and social outlook on civil society and social justice.

Filippo Barbera is Professor of Economic Sociology in the CPS Department at the University of Turin and is affiliated with the Collegio Carlo Alberto. Ian Rees Jones is Professor of Sociological Research at Cardiff University and the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD).

"Looking for new ways of organising the economy? Here are examples of how the things most important for well-being are best provided by involving citizens actively in their provision." Andrew Sayer, Lancaster University "Dramatically advances our understanding of how societies can determine the moral standards that their economies must meet to establish a practical yet humane obligation to citizens." Mark Granovetter, Stanford University