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StefanMerten made up his mind: The Oekonux Book needs to be written - finally.

It will be more in the style of a big narrative addressing the general public. It needs to be comprehensible by a wider audience. Nevertheless a scientific approach needs to be followed.

It addresses the goals of an Oekonux Book by explaining basic Oekonux theory fragments. It will stitch together theory fragments developed in Oekonux to form a comprehensible big picture.

It will be in English.

The main writing should be done by the authors until the end of 2012 - although this is not a fixed date.

Content

Topic

The main topic of the book will be

Peer production as a new mode of production

Outline

The basic idea for a story-line is this:

  1. Explain the basic concepts mode of production and peer production
  2. Infer theoretically by what a new mode of production can be recognized
  3. Recognize peer production as a new mode of production
  4. Look at the historical practice so far
  5. Take a peek into the future
The following outline is not final.

  1. Theory: Peer production as a new mode of production

    1. Mode of production explained

      • Reference to Marx
      • Importance of the mode of production

    2. Peer production explained

      • Main characteristics of peer production
        • Internal / external openness
        • Selbstentfaltung
      • Reference to Oekonux
      • Reference to Yochaï Benkler
      • Reference to Steven Weber
    3. Development explained: The five-step-model

    4. Enablers of a new mode of production

  2. Practice: A new mode of production takes shape

    1. Evidence for a new mode of production

      • Free Software
      • Wikipedia
      • Open Access, Free Hardware, Free Music, Open Streetmap

    2. Connections and disconnections between peer production regime and capitalism

      • Copyright and copyleft

    3. Crisis of capitalism

      • Positive feedback cycle in commons-based peer production
      • Message: We are at the brink of a new era

    4. Similarities and differences to capitalism

      • Thesis - antithesis - synthesis
      • Lack of alienation
      • Motives of contributors
      • Availability of product
    5. Governance in peer production

  3. Outlook

    1. What to expect

      • Wikipedia as a follow-up to Free Software

    2. Promoting peer production

      • What to do
      • What to avoid
        • Hope in exchange based systems

    3. Utopia?

      • Why a concrete Utopia doesn't make sense
        • Concrete Utopia cannot be imagined today
      • An abstract Utopia

Other aspects

  • Recurring comparison with early capitalism
  • Not a philosophical book - though philosophical questions may be touched
  • Not a rehash of the old class struggle based Marxism
  • Not a concrete Utopian vision
  • May be comprehensibility can be reached by separating chapters in simple, comprehensible examples and more theoretical parts

Authors

Oekonux/Project/Book/ModeOfProduction (last edited 2011-12-07 23:21:35 by StefanMerten)

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