Collective action sustains commons for symbolic as much as material ends.
Evidence
Some commons have endured not primarily because of economic livelihood concerns, but because they carry important meanings for the villagers. The reproductions of these commons are associated with important symbolic values for the villagers and they contribute to the construction of the village’s identity. Mosse (1997) makes a similar point in examining the management of common resources in Tamil Nadu in India. He argues that both symbolic and material interests’ matters in collective action, and that “Tanks, like village temples, are public institutions expressive of social relations, status, prestige and honour”. They are not only physical inputs but also “repositories of symbolic resources” (ibid, 472). — Emil Sandström and Ann-Kristin Ekman and Karl-Johan Lindholm, Commoning in the periphery – The role…, 76
Categorization
- XREF: Reinforces the argument in the sacrifice article that ritual/common practices stabilize social structures beyond their apparent material purpose. — connects to: Surviving commons shift from economic to social and symbolic resources over time. — Emil Sandström and Ann-Kristin Ekman and Karl-Johan Lindholm, Commoning in the periphery – The role…, 13; Commons persist through symbolic meaning even after losing economic purpose. — Emil Sandström and Ann-Kristin Ekman and Karl-Johan Lindholm, Commoning in the periphery – The role…, 75; Economically marginal commons persist by carrying symbolic and memorial weight. — Emil Sandström and Ann-Kristin Ekman and Karl-Johan Lindholm, Commoning in the periphery – The role…, 93 (+4 more)
- corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — Emil Sandström and Ann-Kristin Ekman and Karl-Johan Lindholm, Commoning in the periphery – The role…, 76
Related
- Surviving commons shift from economic to social and symbolic resources over time. (similarity 0.88)
- Economically marginal commons persist by carrying symbolic and memorial weight. (similarity 0.87)
- Persisting commons are sustained more by identity and wellbeing than by economic yield. (similarity 0.85)
- Commons persist through symbolic meaning even after losing economic purpose. (similarity 0.85)
- Commons function as social resources binding communities together, not just property rights. (similarity 0.81)
- Commons are reinvented historical practices that villagers legitimize through analogies to past traditions. (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Persisting commons are sustained more by identity and wellbeing than by economic yield.
#expands(0.90) — Emil Sandström and Ann-Kristin Ekman and Karl-Johan Lindholm, Commoning in the periphery – The role…, 89 - Economically marginal commons persist by carrying symbolic and memorial weight.
#expands(0.85) — Emil Sandström and Ann-Kristin Ekman and Karl-Johan Lindholm, Commoning in the periphery – The role…, 93 - Commons analysis should emphasize subjectivities over measurable institutional variables.
#responds-to(0.75) — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning, 44