The Oneida Community and the utility of liberal capitalism
Historians studying the utopian Oneida Community have often located its demise in rising internal dissent and failing consensus among its members, with special emphasis on the personal jealousies and generational tensions that its practice of group marriage may have produced. Those studies step past...
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doaj-03ea28877b824deca7b632452e3476c92020-12-15T17:22:27ZengUCL PressRadical Americas2399-46062019-10-0110.14324/111.444.ra.2019.v3.1.003The Oneida Community and the utility of liberal capitalismKevin CoffeeHistorians studying the utopian Oneida Community have often located its demise in rising internal dissent and failing consensus among its members, with special emphasis on the personal jealousies and generational tensions that its practice of group marriage may have produced. Those studies step past the essential place of work and industry in communal life and especially the community’s theology, which equated economic prosperity with Christian virtue. This essay reframes our understanding of the political economy of the Oneida Community, with specific attention to their last decade, and the social tensions stoked by their reliance upon market capitalism and waged labour. While acknowledging the internal dissent that accompanied the structural demise of the commune, the present study asks how such discord arose from business-centred theology within the social environment of competition and a prolonged economic depression. The Community’s dependence upon the surrounding capitalist economy challenged their self-described ‘Bible communism’ and precipitated its demise.https://ucl.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14324/111.444.ra.2019.v3.1.003 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Kevin Coffee |
spellingShingle |
Kevin Coffee The Oneida Community and the utility of liberal capitalism Radical Americas |
author_facet |
Kevin Coffee |
author_sort |
Kevin Coffee |
title |
The Oneida Community and the utility of liberal capitalism |
title_short |
The Oneida Community and the utility of liberal capitalism |
title_full |
The Oneida Community and the utility of liberal capitalism |
title_fullStr |
The Oneida Community and the utility of liberal capitalism |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Oneida Community and the utility of liberal capitalism |
title_sort |
oneida community and the utility of liberal capitalism |
publisher |
UCL Press |
series |
Radical Americas |
issn |
2399-4606 |
publishDate |
2019-10-01 |
description |
Historians studying the utopian Oneida Community have often located its demise in rising internal dissent and failing consensus among its members, with special emphasis on the personal jealousies and generational tensions that its practice of group marriage may have produced. Those studies step past the essential place of work and industry in communal life and especially the community’s theology, which equated economic prosperity with Christian virtue. This essay reframes our understanding of the political economy of the Oneida Community, with specific attention to their last decade, and the social tensions stoked by their reliance upon market capitalism and waged labour. While acknowledging the internal dissent that accompanied the structural demise of the commune, the present study asks how such discord arose from business-centred theology within the social environment of competition and a prolonged economic depression. The Community’s dependence upon the surrounding capitalist economy challenged their self-described ‘Bible communism’ and precipitated its demise. |
url |
https://ucl.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14324/111.444.ra.2019.v3.1.003 |
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