A critique of the bottom of the pyramid ideology by Paul Hawken
In my own writings on netarchical capitalism, I distinguish between netarchical capitalism as a class, enabling and profiting from participatory platforms; as a practice, involving minipreneurs, but also as an ideology, which favors participation but only within the framework of capitalism. Netarchists in my mind are those who favour P2P, but for whom the horizon of possibility lies exclusively within the capitalist marketplace. Yesterday’s entry on Prosper.com was a case in point. Another expression of this ideology is the fast-growing ‘bottom-of-the-pyramid‘ movement.
Here’s an excellent critique of it, entitled the Global Economy’s Immune System, by Paul Hawken, the author of The Ecology of Commerce, which echoes a number of problems I had with BOP, but could not formulate quite as well. It appeared as an interview in the new magazine Value and is worth reading in full.
Some background to the BOP movement, a profile of its founder.
