THE COMMONS

This webinar launches the Social Research issue,

The Commons, Vol. 88, No. 1 (Spring 2021)

Traditionally, the "commons" guaranteed all people free access to shared natural assets, which were cared for in common for the benefit of all. What is left of the "commons" in the twenty-first century is an economic balancing act between private gain and public good - between labor, markets, and capital - in spaces ranging from indigenous ancestral lands, to the village market, to urban environments; and encompassing the information commons, the ethical commons, and the cultural commons, not to mention the threatened environmental commons, which may herald the demise of the natural environment itself.

How did we get here, and what can we learn from that history?

Join us as we discuss the "commons", from the tragedy of its impending destruction by common neglect, to its potential to transform the human lot through new means of collaboration and sharing.

SPEAKERS:

Akeel Bilgrami, Sidney Morgenbesser Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University

Marc Fleurbaey, CNRS Researcher; Professor, Paris School of Economics; former Professor, Princeton University

John Bellamy Foster, Editor of Monthly Review; Professor of Sociology, University of Oregon

Prabhat Patnaik, Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

MODERATOR:

Sanjay G. Reddy, Associate Professor of Economics, The New School for Social Research

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