Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T01:49:04.437Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Evolving a Sustainable and Equitable Future

What Can We Learn from Nonmarket Cultures?

from Part III - Back to the Future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2021

John M. Gowdy
Affiliation:
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York
Get access

Summary

Even if all the reforms outlined in Chapter 8 were enacted, the growth imperative would still drive the economic system. This chapter explores ways to move toward an evolutionary path leading to an entirely new system not based on growth and exploitation. It does not offer a blueprint for a utopian future but rather examines the human potential for radical social change given our physical and psychological characteristics, particularly brain plasticity and “evolvability.” Examples of sustainable human societies with very different economic systems from market capitalism are discussed, including Tikopia, Ladakh, and the Inca Empire. These cases illustrate the human capacity for innovation and radical change. As we face an uncertain future, nonmarket economies can at least show us that sustainable and equitable societies are possible. It is not human nature that is preventing us from constructing a better world.

Type
Chapter
Information
Ultrasocial
The Evolution of Human Nature and the Quest for a Sustainable Future
, pp. 166 - 192
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×