Community-Based Organizations and the Challenges of the Anthropocene

Kivonat, rövid leírás

The Anthropocene is characterized by the dominance of social arrangements prioritizing material growth (related to social power) over other concerns, such as human and non-human well-being, or the ecosystems’ capacity to sustain life. Despite significant potentials to reduce environmental destruction while increasing individual well-being, such potentials remain largely non-capitalized. What forms of collective action could support the aim of meeting needs and sustaining ecosystems’ regenerative capacities? The aim of the dissertation is to explore how, in the context of the Anthropocene, community-based organizations (CBOs) arrange collective actions prioritising socioecological concerns. To support this aim, the two research questions were formulated: • (RQ1) Which organizational characteristics support the community-based organizations to prioritise socioecological concerns? • (RQ2) What helps and what hinders the spreading and/or the adaptation of the existing models of community-based organizations in today’s world? 20 CBOs have been selected into the sample from a diverse range of fields (food, energy, housing, healthcare, mobility, education, intentional communities, local currency, finance). key stakeholder of each CBO has been interview through a semi-structured interview, and where available secondary data was also collected. Interview data have been transcribed and coded on a thematic level. To understand and to illustrate the main factors influencing the operation of CBOs a system map has been created. The variables of the system map were formulated from the coded data; each variable has the potential to drive system-level change. The core dynamics of the selected CBOs are autonomy, access to needs satisfiers and empowerment. Autonomy-supportive settings support prosocial inclinations. Empowerment allows peers to gain/enhance capabilities to work collectively on providing access to needs satisfiers. CBOs can be spaces of social and technological innovations supporting socioecological concerns. It is because a principle feature of CBOs, their design to listen and hear a wide range of stakeholders, therefore engaging with stakeholders by command-and-control, but rather through peer-to-peer coordination based on sharing, care, reciprocity, and common rule-setting/enforcing. The organizational characteristics of CBOs could be adopted by other types of organizations which are open to steer collective action towards socioecological concerns, rather than material growth. CBOs, when the circumstances are fit, can be spaces and vehicles where socioecologically-driven norms, practices and attitudes can spread and amplify.