IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-05394960.html

Democratizing Essential Reliance Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Bernd Bonfert

    (Aarhus University [Aarhus])

Abstract

The increasingly obvious unsustainability of neoliberal capitalism creates an urgent need to understand how societies can meet their needs in a just and sustainable fashion. The new theoretical framework of the "Foundational Economy" may provide answers, as it explores a holistic transformation of essential reliance systems, such as food provision, energy, care, and housing. However, its conceptualization of democratic agency needs to be strengthened.This article addresses this need by expanding the Foundational Economy framework with insights from the literature on social reproduction theory (SRT) and the solidarity economy (SE). SRT highlights the gendered and racialized hierarchies of essential reliance systems as key targets for transformation, while the SE encompasses participatory and non-capitalist practices that can democratize those systems. This expanded framework is applied to the UK agroecology movement, which aims to build democratic, sustainable, and non-capitalist alternatives to the food system, while subverting its classed, gendered, and racialized inequalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernd Bonfert, 2024. "Democratizing Essential Reliance Systems," Post-Print hal-05394960, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05394960
    DOI: 10.3167/dt.2024.110104
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05394960v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-05394960v1/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3167/dt.2024.110104?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julie Froud & Colin Haslam & Sukhdev Johal & Karel Williams, 2020. "(How) does productivity matter in the foundational economy?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(4), pages 316-336, June.
    2. Poppy Nicol, 2020. "Pathways to Scaling Agroecology in the City Region: Scaling out, Scaling up and Scaling deep through Community-Led Trade," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-20, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mikhail Martynovich & Teis Hansen & Karl-Johan Lundquist, 2023. "Can foundational economy save regions in crisis?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 577-599.
    2. Anna Butzin & Franz Flögel, 2024. "High-tech development for “left behind” places: lessons-learnt from the Ruhr cybersecurity ecosystem," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 17(2), pages 307-322.
    3. Mikhail Martynovich & Teis Hansen & Karl-Johan Lundquist, 2023. "Can foundational economy save regions in crisis?," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 577-599.
    4. Acga Cheng & Nurul Syafiqah Noor Azmi & Yin Mei Ng & Didier Lesueur & Sumiani Yusoff, 2022. "Appraising Agroecological Urbanism: A Vision for the Future of Sustainable Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-10, January.
    5. Bernd Bonfert, 2024. "‘We like sharing energy but currently there's no advantage’: Transformative opportunities and challenges of local energy communities in Europe," Post-Print hal-05395002, HAL.
    6. Laura Reynolds & Dylan Henderson & Chen Xu & Laura Norris, 2021. "Digitalisation and the foundational economy: A digital opportunity or a digital divide for less-developed regions?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 36(6), pages 451-467, September.
    7. Tomáš Mandičák & Marcela Spišáková & Peter Mésároš, 2024. "Sustainable Design and Building Information Modeling of Construction Project Management towards a Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-16, May.
    8. Birgitte Nygaard & Teis Hansen, 2020. "Local development through the foundational economy? Priority-setting in Danish municipalities," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(8), pages 768-786, December.
    9. Alonso-Adame, Alba & Farahbakhsh, Siavash & Van Meensel, Jef & Marchand, Fleur & Van Passel, Steven, 2025. "Factors to scale out innovative organic farming systems: A case study in Flanders region, Belgium," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    10. Richard Bärnthaler & Andreas Novy & Leonhard Plank, 2021. "The Foundational Economy as a Cornerstone for a Social–Ecological Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.
    11. Butzin, Anna & Flögel, Franz, 2022. "High-tech left behind? Lessons from the Ruhr cybersecurity ecosystem for approaches to develop "left behind" places," IAT Discussion Papers 22/04, Institut Arbeit und Technik (IAT), Westfälische Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05394960. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.