ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the idea of Homo economicus and the forms of organization and exchange it entails and suggests that this view of human beings and human society is not natural but constructed to reinforce certain economic arrangements. It highlights examples of these anarchist values in practice in everyday life, with a focus on our home lives, our commutes and our lives at university. A specific type of Homo sapiens, Homo economicus is the embodiment of a supposedly rational version of human nature, describing the dominant motivations, perceptions and values of the human condition. Anarchism anchors the location of freedom and autonomy within the individual, from which it then radiates outwards across society. Everything that standard management and business textbooks talk about–production, buying, selling, workplace, motivation, structuring students business–takes place strictly in the context of the market. Businesses are established, people are hired, services and goods are sold and then the money is counted.
