Ökonomien der Gabe

The social ecological crisis of civilization makes it necessary to substantially reduce the capitalist mode of economy through expanding solidarity economies. Cooperative enterprises and diverse forms of commons are part of these. Regarding the social ecological transformation of societal nature relations, a critical analysis of capitalist economic ideology is indispensible for identifying a perspective beyond neoclassical assumptions, the epistemologial imperialism of rational choice theory, and the political consequences of neoliberalism. The theory of the gift provides a flexible, reflexive and multidimensional heuristics to analyze general patterns of economic practices in an alternative way. Through the category of the gift, economic practices can be conceptualized as forms of social relationships that are fundamentally different from the rationality of exchange that structures the market economy. The gift makes a plural economy visible, which offers a variety of starting points for developing a relationship with nature in view of overcoming the current crisis of civilization.