Post-Capitalist Futures: Economics of Inherent Worth

What Would an Internal Locus Economy Look Like?

We have explored how capitalism produces external locus—through wage labor, consumerism, and inequality. But what is the alternative? Can we imagine economic systems that cultivate internal locus? What would an economy of inherent worth look like?

This is not a utopian fantasy. It is a design question. If we know that capitalism systematically externalizes worth, then we can design alternatives that systematically affirm inherent worth. This article explores three post-capitalist visions: degrowth, care economies, and commons-based systems. These are not perfect solutions—but they are pathways toward economics grounded in internal locus.

What Would an Internal Locus Economy Look Like?

An internal locus economy would be organized around the principle that all people are inherently valuable, regardless of productivity, consumption, or market price. It would not tie survival to labor. It would not measure worth in wages or possessions. It would not create scarcity and competition as mechanisms of social organization.

Key features would include: decoupling survival from productivity (everyone has access to basic needs—food, housing, healthcare, education—regardless of employment), non-commodified worth (identity and value are not tied to consumption or market participation), reduced inequality (wealth is distributed more equally, reducing comparison-based worth and scarcity mindset), democratic economic structures (workers and communities control production, reducing alienation), and valuing care and reproduction (caregiving, emotional labor, and community work are recognized as valuable, not invisible).

This is not about eliminating work or markets entirely—it is about changing the relationship between economic activity and worth. Work can be meaningful, fulfilling, and contributory. Markets can facilitate exchange and coordination. But neither should be the source of inherent value. People are valuable because they exist, not because they produce or consume.

Degrowth: Beyond the Growth Imperative

Degrowth is an economic and political movement that challenges the growth imperative—the assumption that economies must constantly expand to be healthy. Capitalism requires growth: more production, more consumption, more profit. But infinite growth on a finite planet is impossible. And the pursuit of growth creates external locus: worth is tied to productivity, consumption is endless, and people are valued for their contribution to economic expansion.

Degrowth proposes an alternative: economies that prioritize well-being over growth, sufficiency over accumulation, and ecological sustainability over profit. This means producing less, consuming less, working less—and creating space for non-economic worth.

From a locus perspective, degrowth is liberatory. It says: You do not need to produce more to be valuable. You do not need to consume more to be worthy. You are enough, simply as you are. Degrowth decouples worth from economic performance, creating conditions for internal locus.

Degrowth economies would include: reduced work hours (four-day work weeks, shorter days—creating time for rest, relationships, creativity), local and low-impact production (prioritizing community needs over global markets, reducing the pressure to compete and consume), universal basic services (ensuring that basic needs are met without requiring endless economic growth), and cultural shifts (celebrating sufficiency, rejecting consumerism, valuing non-material worth).

Critics argue that degrowth would create unemployment, poverty, and economic collapse. But this assumes that worth and survival must be tied to economic growth. Degrowth challenges this assumption. It says: We can meet people's needs without endless expansion. We can create meaningful lives without constant productivity. We can affirm inherent worth without tying it to GDP.

Care Economy: Valuing What Capitalism Renders Invisible

Capitalism values production and consumption but renders care invisible. Caregiving—raising children, caring for elders, supporting the sick, maintaining households, nurturing relationships—is essential to human survival. But it is unpaid, undervalued, and feminized. It does not contribute to GDP, so it is treated as worthless.

This creates external locus for caregivers. Their labor is essential, but it is not recognized as valuable. They are told, implicitly and explicitly, that they are not contributing, that they are not productive, that they are not worthy. This is the externalization of worth through the devaluation of care.

A care economy would center care as the foundation of economic life. It would recognize that caregiving is not secondary to production—it is the condition for all production. Without care, there are no workers, no consumers, no economy. Care is the invisible infrastructure that makes everything else possible.

A care economy would include: paid care work (caregivers receive living wages, benefits, and social recognition), universal care services (childcare, elder care, healthcare are publicly funded and accessible to all), reduced work hours for all (creating time for people to care for themselves and others without sacrificing survival), and cultural transformation (celebrating care as valuable, not just paid labor).

From a locus perspective, a care economy affirms inherent worth. It says: You are valuable when you care, when you nurture, when you support. Your worth is not conditional on market productivity—it is grounded in relationships, interdependence, and the sustaining of life. This is internal locus, embedded in economic structure.

Commons: Beyond Private Property and Market Exchange

The commons are resources that are collectively owned and managed—land, water, knowledge, culture. In capitalist economies, most resources are privatized: owned by individuals or corporations, accessed through market exchange. This creates scarcity, competition, and external locus: you are valuable if you can afford access, if you can compete for resources, if you can prove your worth through purchasing power.

Commons-based economies operate differently. Resources are shared, not owned. Access is based on need and participation, not on market price. Worth is not tied to ownership or consumption—it is tied to belonging and contribution to the community.

Examples of commons include: community land trusts (land is collectively owned, housing is affordable and secure), open-source knowledge (information is freely shared, not commodified), cooperative enterprises (workers collectively own and manage businesses), and gift economies (goods and services are exchanged through reciprocity, not market transactions).

From a locus perspective, commons create conditions for internal locus. You are valuable because you are part of the community, not because you own property or have purchasing power. Your worth is relational and inherent, not conditional on market performance. Commons reduce comparison, scarcity, and competition—the mechanisms that produce external locus in capitalist economies.

Utopian? Or Necessary?

Are these visions utopian? Yes, in the sense that they do not currently exist at scale. But they are not fantasies—they are design proposals grounded in real experiments, historical precedents, and theoretical frameworks. Degrowth movements exist in Europe. Care economies are being theorized by feminist economists. Commons are being practiced in communities around the world.

And they are necessary. Capitalism is not sustainable—ecologically, economically, or psychologically. It is destroying the planet, creating extreme inequality, and producing mass suffering through the systematic externalization of worth. If we want to survive and thrive, we need alternatives. We need economic systems that affirm inherent worth, that do not tie survival to productivity, that create conditions for collective internal locus.

These alternatives are not perfect. They face challenges—how to coordinate large-scale economies without markets, how to transition from capitalism without collapse, how to build political power to implement these visions. But the question is not whether they are perfect—it is whether they are better than what we have. And the answer is yes.

Conclusion: Economics of Inherent Worth

Post-capitalist futures are not just about economic restructuring—they are about psychological liberation. Degrowth decouples worth from growth and productivity. Care economies center the invisible labor that sustains life. Commons create shared resources and relational worth. All three affirm the same principle: people are inherently valuable, regardless of their economic performance.

These are not utopian fantasies—they are necessary alternatives. Capitalism systematically produces external locus, creating unnecessary suffering at mass scale. If we want to reduce that suffering, we must build economic systems that cultivate internal locus. We must design economies of inherent worth.

This is not just an economic question—it is a moral and psychological question. What kind of world do we want to live in? One where worth is conditional, comparative, and tied to market performance? Or one where worth is inherent, equal, and grounded in our shared humanity?

The choice is ours. The future is not fixed—it is something we create. And we can create economies that affirm, rather than destroy, the inherent worth of all people.

Series 10 complete: The Political Economy of Worth. From labor to consumerism, from inequality to post-capitalist futures, we have explored how economic systems shape locus—and how we can reshape economics to cultivate inherent worth. For anyone navigating the inner work that these systemic shifts require, the Shadow Work Tarot is a profound companion for turning the externalization of worth inward. The Jung and the Archetype guide directly illuminates the very archetypal structures that shape our collective and personal narratives around value. And the 40 Manifestation Rituals offers a structured path to embodying the kind of intentional, grounded creation that a truly internal locus economy would foster.