‘Socio-economics of the Commons’ SDG chair

‘Responsible Production and Consumption’ sustainable development goal

Logo for the ‘Responsible Consumption and Production’ sustainable development goal

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12,‘Responsible consumption andproduction’, aims to establish sustainable consumption and production patterns by reducing the waste of resources, promoting energy efficiency and encouraging environmentally-friendly practices throughout the production and consumption chains.

The ‘Socio-economics of the Commons’ SDG chair

The purpose of the ‘Socio-economics of the commons’ SDG chair is to study alternative forms of production and consumption, based on the concept of the commons (from Marx to Ostrom). The project examines the civilisational issues involved in the commons movement and the capacity of this form of organisation to spread/expand.

Context

If we are to respect the ‘principle of responsibility’, according to which we should manage to live ‘in such a way as to preserve the chances of an authentically human life on earth’ (Jonas), the major environmental crisis requires us to make a major bifurcation in the organisation of our economies. This is the Anthropocene era.

Understanding the concept of the commons

The ‘commons’ refer to ‘resources’ managed by a ‘community’ : the latter establishes rules and governance with the aim of preserving and perpetuating these resources (e.g. free software, Wikipedia, ‘open sciences’, the circular economy, the
Associations for the Continuation of Small-Scale Farming (Associations pour le Maintien d’une Agriculture Paysanne – AMAP), third-party sites, etc.).

The principle of the commons is immediately linked to other concepts: production (i.e. efficiency), consumption (i.e. satisfying needs) and political commitment (i.e. ethics).

The commons therefore links what the State and/or the market used to separate (efficiency and politics), and it immediately links political commitment and the question of our relationship with the biosphere (the primary resource).

This SDG chair is associated with the Hauts-de-France Social and Solidarity Economy Chair and the Federative Institute for Research on Regional Renewal (Institut Fédératif de Recherche sur le Renouveau des Territoires – IF2RT).