Between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft: The Stories We Tell
Commerce and Community: Ecologies of Social Cooperation Robert F Garnett Jr., Paul Lewis and Lenore T. Ealy, eds. Routledge, 2014.
Posted: 10 Jan 2016
Date Written: 2014
Abstract
We live, simultaneously, in two worlds. On the one hand, we live in a world occupied and defined by our close relationships - those of family, neighborhood, and community - in which we cooperate with others who are very much known to us, sometimes in intimate detail. At the same time that we inhabit this world, we inhabit another world in which the food we eat, the garments we wear, the buildings we inhabit, and the technology we deploy are produced by multitudes of others distant and unknown to us. As producers in this world, we cooperate with countless others, again unknown to us, to bring about the goods and services we offer. Depending on the kinds of goods and services we produce, we may never directly encounter those who benefit from our efforts.
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