Postcapitalist Countrysides exposes the entrenched inequalities that capitalism has imposed on rural communities and charts a path toward more just and sustainable futures. Built upon case studies from around the world, the book critiques the failures of privatization and market-driven development while showcasing alternative economic models that reclaim land and wealth for the many, not the few.
Through analyses of land reform and community wealth building, contributors depict how local initiatives can reshape rural economies and empower communities when reinforced by structural change. From challenging exploitative land ownership to confronting the encroachment of platform capitalism, this volume engages with urgent global crises while offering tangible strategies for transformation. Postcapitalist Countrysides presents a bold vision for rural life beyond capitalism—one rooted in collective prosperity and resilience.
Reviews
Table of Contents
List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Preface
Acknowledgements
1 The postcapitalist countryside
Nick Gallent, Andrew Purves, Menelaos Gkartzios and Mark Scott
Part I: Private land enclosure and public commoning
2 Land and rent in capitalist production
Andrew Purves, Nick Gallent, Menelaos Gkartzios and Mark Scott
3 From enclosure to commoning
Andre Pusey
4 Postcapitalist trajectories, beyond land
Menelaos Gkartzios
Part II: Commoning processes and experiences
5 Postcapitalist struggles and the ‘gift of land’
Franklin Obeng-Odoom
6 Experimental food commons in capitalist heartlands
Adam Calo
7 Making a postcapitalist countryside? Community landownership in Scotland
Madhu Satsangi and Andrew Purves
8 Community landownership: means and outcomes – experiences of community acquisition processes in Scotland
Annie McKee, Jayne Glass, Anna Lawrence and Robert Mc Morran
9 ‘Back to the land’: evaluating One Planet Development as a planning mechanism for promoting alternative forms of rural living
Neil Harris
10 Rural women’s business-led commoning in Mexico and Japan: A transnational feminist analysis
Chizu Sato, Nanako Nakamura and Jozelin María Soto Alarcón
11 From land reparations to land justice: Reframing relationships to place using Indigenous Australians’ wisdom
Ed Wensing and Bhiamie Williamson
12 Land art as commoning and resistance: aesthetics, ecology and community
Emily Brady
Part III: De-commoditised collective assets and community infrastructure
13 Rural social enterprises as vehicles for postcapitalism
Nikolaos Apostolopoulos and Sotiris Apostolopoulos
14 Rural enterprise hubs and postcapitalism
Ian Merrell
15 Platform capitalism and the rural
Mark Scott
16 Community land trusts in rural locations: a postcapitalist housing transition?
Tom Moore
17 Unpacking the energy commons
Thomas BauwensandRobert Wade
18 Rural heritage as a commons
Mark Scott
Part IV: The social transformation
19 Re-distributed private landholding as postcapitalism: homeownership and inequality in Britain
Nick Gallent and Phoebe Stirling
20 The land question and postcapitalist countrysides: towards a town-country synthesis
Matt Thompson and Yousaf Nishat-Botero
21 Achieving a socialisation of rent through land taxation
Andrew Purves, Nick Gallent, Mark Scott and Menelaos Gkartzios
22 Towards hopeful postcapitalist futures?
Nick Gallent, Mark Scott, Menelaos Gkartzios and Andrew Purves
Index