Anthony McCann, Ph.D., Editor    

 

Fáilte romhat, welcome, to Beyond the Commons. I call the site "Beyond the Commons" because while the site does engage with debates about the commons, the primary concern here is with the process and practices of enclosure. I believe we can more helpfully understand enclosure by not simply portraying enclosure as a threat to whatever we understand as "the commons".

 

To understand enclosure I believe it is helpful to identify resistance to enclosure, to understand the character of expansionary social dynamics and of commodification, and to also understand how we ourselves frequently participate in enclosure. This site is dedicated to an exploration of the social psychology, or rather, the social psychologies of enclosure.

 

---

The writings presented on the Beyond the Commons website primarily deal with issues of music, intellectual property, copyright, and performing rights. They also address wider issues, however. At the very least, the following questions are posed:

 

'Why might we do the things we do?',

'How might we understand social life in ways which leave the door open for positive transformation in terms of participative personal agency?', and

'How might we understand our experience more subtly, more appropriately in order to minimise the damage effected by well-intentioned actions?'