The citizens of many nations possess an impressive array of rights, enshrined and protected by law, and have a great deal of freedom, on paper, to freely pursue their various objectives, hobbies and desires – so long as their actions do not unduly interfere with others.
Unfortunately, although a great deal of freedom and autonomy is enshrined within the laws of many nations, in practice, in order to pay the rent, and put food on the table, many people hold down jobs in companies which enforce an almost totalitarian degree of regimentation, supervision, reporting and surveillance. And the hours of many jobs are so long that they consume the bulk of many worker’s days – indeed, for many people, their working life is the bulk of their entire life.
Some jobs are better than others. Some jobs are more fulfilling than others. For those who work in less fulfilling jobs with long hours, their days consist of tirelessly performing a never-ending ream of orders which serve the will of others – whether those others be their manager, their customers, or both. Very often this service is both exhausting and thanklessly taken for granted.
While serving others in moderation is both healthy and fulfilling, when our lives our so regimented, and our activities so exhausting, that we are left with no time to think for ourselves, to decide what we ourselves want, or to express ourselves in any way, this can result in:
- Stress
- Misery
- Loss of identity
- Loss of Autonomy
- A lack of self-expression
- A reduced perception of self-worth
Autonomy, self-expression and self-determination are the essential components of our sense of agency and identity. We at Socibuild believe that everyone should have ample opportunities to make decisions for themselves and express themselves as they go about their everyday activities, and that our daily activities should, in some small way, be an expression of who we are and our own identity as opposed to our actions merely presenting the brand identity of some corporation or other that we work for.
Furthermore, we believe that opportunities to express autonomy, self-determination and self-expression should form an intrinsic part of everyone’s daily routine in practice as a part of their real economic life as opposed to our current situation where rights and freedoms are protected and espoused on paper but, in practice, many people spend the bulk of their life in jobs that sap them of every shred of autonomy, give them no opportunity to determine their own life path, or express themselves, and drain them of their very sense of identity.
We believe that a central component of economic self-determination is to encourage the activity of self-provision. When someone provides for their own needs, they are effectively their own boss. They must decide what they want (A clean kitchen? A nice meal? A fruitful garden?) and create their own plan for how to get it. This activity is the most straightforward way to ensure that everyone can regain a sense of agency along with basic opportunities for self-expression.
For those with successful careers, they will mostly be able to express themselves and exert a tolerable degree of autonomy through the work they do. But all grunt-work that involves the mindless performance of chores should be part-time in nature and should be supplemented by self-provision as an accompanying economic activity. That way, every member of our community will have some opportunity to express themselves, exert some modest autonomy and determine their own path, in at least part of their economic life.
To accomplish this, once we are financed, we intend to ensure that:
- Basic Income
- Self-Provision Loans
- Self-Provision Training
Can readily be accessed by all members of Socibuild communities.