The Family as a Small Society

The collection of lectures and publications from the Schumacher Center for a New Economics represents some of the foremost voices on a new economics.

Elise Boulding argues that the household unit because of its scale, authenticity, and depth of relationships can be an effective tool for social change in the local community. She contrasts "global systems" with "planetary systems". The military, international corporations, and global markets which make up global systems she describes as serving institutional interests. The network of nongovernmental organizations which make up planetary systems and whose members are small-scale household units have roots in and serve actual places. Boulding has faith in the endurance of this "planetary localism."