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The History of Privatization

Guy Standing

From forests to city squares, parks to libraries, our common spaces are under attack. Economist Guy Standing traces the history of creeping privatization of the natural and social resources in the UK, and makes a passionate case for reform.

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  • guy standing economist iaitv
    Guy Standing
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About the Course

Why is the Duke of Westminster one of the richest people in Britain, and how did he end up owning most of Mayfair and Belgravia? Why are prisons being run for profit? Why did Thames Water pour over one billion tonnes of untreated sewage into the Thames?

In these stirring lectures, Guy Standing takes us from the Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest to the present day to tell the story of how our right to draw sustenance and support from shared resources has been gradually effaced, and why, in his view, we should fight back.

 

By the end of the course, you will have learned:

  • Why the Charter of the Forest of 1217 was so subversive and remarkable, and why it still riles the neoliberal right today.
  • How figures like Henry VIII and Cromwell seized common land and distributed it among allies and the aristocracy, and who still benefits today.
  • How the concept of ‘social income’ can help capture the value of the commons.
  • How the destruction of common resources exacerbates inequality.
  • How public parks and other public spaces come to be effectively run by private companies.

 

Through video lectures, questions and suggested reading discover the history and politics of our common resources. Share your ideas and support your learning through our discussion boards and test your knowledge through an end of course assessment.

IAI Academy courses are designed to be challenging but accessible to the interested student. No specialist knowledge is required.

About the Instructor

  • Guy Standing

    “Moving towards a basic income as a right to subsistence, a right to a home and a right to work will be part of the renewal of the Enlightenment values of equality, liberty and solidarity. ”

    Guy Standing is professor of Development Studies at SOAS and co-founder of the Basic Income Earth Network. He is best known as a long-standing and prominent advocate of Universal Basic Income, but he is also responsible for redefining and revitalizing the term ‘precariat’ which describes a new emerging social class suffering from job insecurity as well as identity insecurity and lack of time control.

    His recent work has focused on the dangers of globalization and the increasing need for unconditional basic income.

    "While his perspective is leftwing, many of the author's ideas for fixing the system are receiving more attention from the mainstream" - Financial Times

Course Syllabus

  • Part One: The Commons Through History
    Standing introduces the Charter of the Forest and explains its enormous historical importance.
  • Part Two: The Commons Now
    Standing considers the disturbing contemporary examples of privatised commons including parks, prisons and the probation service, the forestry commission, water and other natural resources.

Suggested Further Readings

  • Standing, G., The Plunder of the Commons: A Manifesto for Sharing Public Wealth, (London: Pelican, 2019).
  • Linebaugh, P., The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008).
  • Harvey, D., A Brief History of Neoliberalism, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
  • Ostrom, E., Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
  • Monbiot, G., Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis, (London: Verso, 2017).
  • Caffentzis, G. and Federici, S., “Commons Against and Beyond Capitalism,” Community Development Journal, 49, (2014), pp. i92–i105.

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