Roots and radicals : community and the new Northwest
Abstract
During the last several centuries as the world has acclimatized to a new global
economy, economic growth and increasing productivity has traditionally been
regarded as a highly desirable sign of a flourishing economy. Capitalist systems
seek to continually increase growth and consumption and to expand markets,
despite cyclical financial crises and environmental damage that result from these
endeavors. By analyzing historical sources, symptomatic social phenomenon, and
literature regarding the Pacific Northwest region, this work attempts to identify
and source the common ideological underpinnings of the Northwest as it is today.
In exposing the Northwest’s history and political composition as unparalleled
and examining its history of intentional communities, it becomes clear that
the unique way in which Northwest peoples choose to resist the environmental,
economic and social tolls imposed by capitalist society may offer insight for
solutions to avert these crises in the future, if applied on a larger scale to the
region’s existing socio-economic structure. If these principles can become widely
applied and demonstrated in the Northwest, the conclusion of scaling back
economic growth as a counter-point to capitalist expansionism could potentially
be applicable in other regions as well as the global economy faces new challenges
regarding overproduction, environmental damage, and social inequity.
Citation
Lucerna, Volume 8, Number 1, pages 11-17