Imperfect practice can still be politically valuable and prefigurative

Evidence

Chatterton (2010) addressed the gap between vision and practice of anti-capitalist activism from a different angle, identifying the contradictions in activists’ work and their inability to envision a fully non-capitalist society. In my fieldwork, one participant reflected on this gap: “I’m an anti-capitalist, but actually if you look at my bank account and lifestyle, I am 90% capitalist. And that’s just the way it is, and that’s ok (…) in my own incompleteness and contradictions, I contradict the things that I’m campaigning about. I’m never going to achieve this kind of perfection”. Recognising that practices can be prefigurative or politically valuable despite their imperfection relieves commoners’ from the burden of commoning perfectly in challenging social, political and economic contexts. — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning, 77

Categorization

• XREF: Complements the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ and ‘On Sacrifice’ essays’ theme of lived contradiction between professed values and embodiment. — connects to: Political acts can be erroneous, not merely structural reflexes; Virtues that militate against autonomy can still constitute agency — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival…, 1133; Financialized practice depends on genuine play and autonomy, not just hegemony — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 389
• ADDENDUM: Relates to the imperfection-versus-ideal tension explored across the earlier essays, where high ideals are negotiated against material reality.
• corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning:…, 77

Broader Connections

• Political acts can be erroneous, not merely structural reflexes #expands (0.78)
• Virtues that militate against autonomy can still constitute agency #expands (0.75) — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 1133
• Financialized practice depends on genuine play and autonomy, not just hegemony #expands (0.70) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 389