Thread by @__ThoughtPolice

Thoughts for #TTRPG #worldbuilding econ edition:
One key thing to understand about any kind of economic system is that it is near impossible to escape market anarchy. That is even under the most unified and oppressive systems you will have parallel markets and pocket systems.

The persistence of illegal and questionably legal markets throughout human history are a steadfast example. Another example is the occurrence of "found family", mutual aid, and other communitarian and socialistic direct action within capitalist markets. There is no one market.

Tied to that is despite popular narratives there are very few actual revolutions and mostly long evolutions. What we know as "capitalism" has threads going all the way back to Ancient Greece and Mesopotamia. It was a slow process of pieces coming together.

The trade-based economies of the Middle East & South Asia and as well the labor realities & capital concentration of post-Plague Europe drove early capitalist-esque enterprises and social structures. It was chaotic and subject to moods of the feudal and imperial lords.

It took a while to coalesce into the peaks of "Eastern" imperial powers with lively marketplaces and the rise of Renaissance city-states and principalities that created mercantilism [the godfather or proto-form of capitalism]. That took a few more to shift into capitalism.

The shift to capitalism was indeed driven by the industrial revolutions. But it wasn't one. It was several in a row. Comparable to the rise of the digital age now which followed the rise of a computer age and so on. And they were result on long ongoing trends.

Technology had been improving and evolving for centuries. As had been increasing labor specialization and various efficiency improvements. It was all incremental, despite the bombastic framing of popular history. And no one factor triggered the little storms. It was many.

So looking forward for a futurist or sci-fi setting with a socialist "revolution", let's say. Instead of a sudden change, like flipping a switch, think about the road there. We've seen a rise in awareness of community action and mutual aid since the pandemic.

We've also seen a greater interest in better compensation and workers' rights. Let's just think that out. It's not tomorrow or next year. But in a few generations, society could easily gradually change. Worker-owned and coop enterprises might be fairly common.

You can easily find neighborhoods and social circles with mutual aid societies and near-daily community events & efforts. Corporations still hold most of the power and politics is yet elite but life is better with a simultaneous sense of independence and community empowerment.

Some generations on, the old power structure is failing to hold on. Some have adapted and found niches for themselves. The corporations that survive share at least a notable portion of their ownership and profits with employees. Most enterprises are employee-owned or coops.

Over the course of 100-200 years, action within the society transforms the society. It's plausible and [importantly] durable. Even a fairly rapid change over just a few generations in 50-100 years could stick well. Forced revolutions are fragile. Organic changes are sticky.

The real key:
SOCIETY IS WHAT PEOPLE DO.

There is no magical "The Economy" with universal rules set forth immutably by Great Thinkers.
There's just you and me.
What we collectively do is "The Economy".
If enough do different things, the supposed system changes.

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