THE CIVIC COMMUNITY AND BALANCED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Over the past 50 years, neoclassical, free-market capitalism has vanquished all challengers as the development paradigm. The collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe coupled with China’s turn down the capitalist road has left the door open for the unfettered spread of capitalism around the world. Today, traditional communities and local economies are being woven into global circuits of mass production and consumption. As more and more aspects of community life are commodified, local residents are transformed from citizens who have an active role in the civic life of their towns and village into consumers whose main goal in life is to keep the global engine of accumulation running. In the West, life is increasingly lived at work and the shopping mall. Home is a place to park the car, watch television and sleep.

Citation

Lyson, T.A. (2003), "THE CIVIC COMMUNITY AND BALANCED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT", Bell, M.M. and Hendricks, F. (Ed.) Walking Towards Justice: Democratization in Rural Life (Research in Rural Sociology and Development, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 103-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1057-1922(03)09007-3