Grammar of Peer Production

In 2005, Michel Bauwens published “The Political Economy of Peer Production”, which discussed the principles, characteristics, and the future of the then nascent ecosystem of peer production. This chapter revisits Bauwens’ 2005 article, adopting, expanding and refining the operational concepts – or “grammar” – he used to define peer production projects and the institutional ecosystems that sustain them. Our aim is to provide a framework that would give a theoretical underpinning to the transformative practices of peer production.  In a time of deep environmental, social and political crisis, it is important to understand how a new kind of society, based on the centrality of the commons and within a reformed market and state, is possible. This chapter, thus, discusses and introduces new paradigmatic ways of value creation that have the potential to be more radically inclusive and sustainable.