What Hardin called the tragedy of the commons is really the tragedy of enclosure

Evidence

Erroneously assuming theses ideologies to be natural human charac - teristics, Garret Hardin (1968) famously refers to this process as “the tragedy of the commons.” In truth, as many authors have pointed out, what Hardin identifies is actually the tragedy of enclosure (Cavanagh & Mander, 2004). And, as the work of Gregory Bateson demonstrates, such practices are tragic, indeed ultimately suicidal, because they cut us off from systemic wisdom: recognizing and protecting the living patterns and relationships that embed us in a necessary system of interdependence. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 1375

Categorization

• XREF: Reframes Hardin’s famous commons metaphor; connects to the greed-vs-enclosure debate also discussed in eco-justice and institutional-economics literature. — connects to: The English Enclosure Acts forced peasants off commons land into factory labor. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1365; The enclosure movement destroyed rural community through theft of common land — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory: A Marxist…, 101
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• The enclosure movement destroyed rural community through theft of common land #complicates (0.85) — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 101