Commoning Social Life

Stephen Healy
katherine Gibson
The Convento de Maria del Giglio in Bolsena, Italy4 Photo by Elizabeth Barron, 2013

From our atmosphere to the open ocean, from our languages to the rule of law, use without ownership underpins human experience. It is critical to our continued survival beyond the Anthropocene. These resources and properties are ineluctably shared because they are not wholly appropriable; they are used as part of a commons because they cannot be entirely exchanged. They are held in common because they cannot be completely enclosed. This essay is concerned with the use of and care for the commons as an object of inquiry, a practice of all social life, and as the operative condition of intellectual production.The essay continues the ‘Foundational Essays’ series developed by the Institute for Culture and Society on basic concepts and approaches in social enquiry and practice. In the Institute, we treat ‘commoning’ as a key concept of our collective project.

Suggested citation

Healy, S. and Gibson, K. 2017. Commoning Social Life.  Essay for the Institute for Cutlure and Society's Annual Report. 

Tags