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.