‘Stand back and watch us’ : Post-capitalist practices in the maker movement
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2020 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Environment and Planning A : Economy and Space |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | článek |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19882731 |
| Keywords | Making; workshop; diverse economy; post-capitalism; practice; commons |
| Attached files | |
| Description | This paper examines the economic practices of maker spaces – open workshops that have increased in number over recent years and that aim to provide access to tools, materials and skills for small-scale manufacturing and repair. Scholarly interest in such spaces has been increasing across the social sciences more broadly, parallel to a growing interest in craft and making in economic geography. However, to rectify the ‘capitalocentrism’ of much existing work, the paper examines the case of a workshop in Edinburgh, Scotland, through the dual theoretical lens of diverse economies and social practice theory. This conceptual approach sees the space as a novel form of economic ‘being-in-common’, providing diverse and contradictory opportunities for post-capitalist practice. The paper draws conclusions regarding the limits and potential of such spaces for sowing the prefigurative seeds for a more inclusive, sustainable and democratic urbanism. |
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