How democratic politics function within community economies, and the possibility for their practices to have wider transformational effects

我们生活在一个面临金融崩溃和生态系统崩溃的时代，选举民主无法带来变革性的变化。资本主义主导着经济话语，没有其他选择的余地，构成经济的社会关系被掩盖了。迫切需要重新构建价值观、工作观念以及支撑它们的社会关系。我想要研究的这个项目批判性地考察了民主政治如何在社区经济中发挥作用，以及它们的做法产生更广泛变革影响的可能性。在这个项目中，我将把社区经济文献与雅克·兰奇埃尔的政治思想结合起来，对米勒(2013)所描述的社区经济的“政治时刻”进行理论分析。这个项目将引发新奇的对话，这将发展社区经济文学。它还可以对兰奇埃尔的民主政治进行新的解读。该项目将在两个不同的可持续社区--冰岛的Solheimar生态村和诺丁汉郡的霍克顿住房项目--延长田间世界的时间。选择这些地方是因为它们都很成熟(霍克顿住房项目成立于1996年，Solheimar成立于1930年)，因此是研究政治时刻如何持续的有用地点。这两个网站的重点都是生态可持续性，但治理方法不同。这些不同的方法形成了一个有趣的比较。我将使用民族志定性方法，包括半结构化访谈、焦点小组和话语分析，来剖析民主政治如何在群体中运作，以及工作和价值是如何被感知的。我还将利用这一点来理解社区是如何被理解的，以及群体如何驾驭差异。这个项目旨在通过以下问题对社区经济的政治时刻进行理论化：1)社区经济本质上是如何民主的？2)社区经济能否打开民主存在的空间，并改变经济？3)社区经济中出现了哪些新的价值、工作和社会关系，这与激进的民主有何交叉？

"We live in an age facing financial collapse and the breakdown of ecological systems, with electoral democracy being unable to bring about transformational change. Capitalism dominates economic discourse, allowing no room for alternatives, and the social relations that constitute economies are masked. There is an urgent need to reconfigure conceptions of value, work and the social relations that underpin them. The project I would like to research critically examines how democratic politics function within community economies, and the possibility for their practices to have wider transformational effects. In this project, I will draw together the community economies literature with the political thought of Jacques Rancière to theorize what Miller (2013) characterises as the `political moment' of community economies. This project will spark novel conversations that will develop the community economies literature. It can also present a new reading of Rancière's democratic politics. This project will involve extended periods of field world in two different sustainable communities, Solheimar Eco Village in Iceland, and Hockerton Housing Project, Nottinghamshire. These are chosen as they are well established (Hockerton Housing Project was established in 1996, Solheimar in 1930), and are therefore useful sites for examining how the political moment is sustained. Both sites have a focus on ecological sustainability, but different approaches to governance. These different approaches make for an interesting comparison. I will use ethnographic qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews, focus groups and discourse analysis to unpick how democratic politics operate in the groups, and how work and value are perceived. I will also use this to understand how community is understood, and how the groups navigate difference. This project aims to theorise the political moment of community economies by asking:1) How are community economies democratic in nature?2) Can community economies open spaces where democracy exists and transform economies?3) What new forms of value, work and social relations emerge in community economies and how does this intersect with radical democracy?"