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‘Stand back and watch us’: Post-capitalist practices in the maker movement

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  • Thomas S.J. Smith

Abstract

This paper examines the economic practices of maker spaces – open workshops that have increased in number over recent years and that aim to provide access to tools, materials and skills for small-scale manufacturing and repair. Scholarly interest in such spaces has been increasing across the social sciences more broadly, parallel to a growing interest in craft and making in economic geography. However, to rectify the ‘capitalocentrism’ of much existing work, the paper examines the case of a workshop in Edinburgh, Scotland, through the dual theoretical lens of diverse economies and social practice theory. This conceptual approach sees the space as a novel form of economic ‘being-in-common’, providing diverse and contradictory opportunities for post-capitalist practice. The paper draws conclusions regarding the limits and potential of such spaces for sowing the prefigurative seeds for a more inclusive, sustainable and democratic urbanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas S.J. Smith, 2020. "‘Stand back and watch us’: Post-capitalist practices in the maker movement," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(3), pages 593-610, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:52:y:2020:i:3:p:593-610
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X19882731
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    References listed on IDEAS

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