On the Commons and the Transformation to Postcapitalism

* Book: Omnia Sunt Communia. On the Commons and the Transformation to Postcapitalism. By Massimo De Angelis. University of Chicago Press (distributed by Zed Books), 2017

URL = https://www.zedbooks.net/shop/book/omnia-sunt-communia/

Description

This book reveals the potential for radical transformation contained in a conceptualisation of the commons as a set of social systems, rather than just common goods. In this weaving of radical political economy, Omnia Sunt Communiasets out the steps to postcapitalism. By conceptualising the commons not just as common goods but as a set of social systems, Massimo De Angelis shows their pervasive presence in everyday life, mapping out a strategy for total social transformation.

From the micro to the macro, De Angelis unveils the commons as fields of power relations – shared space, objects, subjects – that explode the limits of daily life under capitalism. He exposes attempts to co-opt the commons, through the use of code words such as 'participation' and 'governance', and reveals the potential for radical transformation rooted in the reproduction of our communities, of life, of work and of society as a whole."

Contents

Introduction

Part One: Commons as systems

1. Common goods

2. Systems

3. Elements

Part Two: From Elinor Ostrom to Karl Marx

4. Commons governance

5. The money nexus and the commons formula

Part Three: Commoning: the source of grassroots power

6. Mobilising social labour for commoning

7. The production of autonomy, boundaries and sense

Part Four: Social change

8. Boundary commoning

9. Commons and capital/state

10. Towards postcapitalism