One for All, and All for One

Individual Ownership	Group Ownership
People work and make efforts to gain their own things People can inherit things Families can have their own ownership People will compete constantly in a way that will make the nation develop  Everyone will be trying to improve at all times No one will wait for things, instead work for them Those who work more than others get more in exchange	Everyone gets the same possessions No one can outcast Those who can’t work won’t be so affected Those in need will have help to survive People will get used to sharing, so no one will compete for things, consequently,  there would be no conflict No robbing among people

Discussion:

Having in mind the situation in which we find ourselves, 35 people living in an inhabited island, with no connection with the outer world, we decided that we couldn’t adapt either drastic individual ownership or group ownership as a system, but in fact, we needed to have a combination between the two that would lead to a development of the region. The place would have to adapt both communism and capitalism to their mechanisms, and in fact, it would be pretty simple since the population is so small and this way there are not much confrontations and disagreements with citizens. The communism ideas would be reflected in the part that everybody should live under good conditions, meaning that even though you have no economic benefits, you should have the necessary possessions to survive and comfortably live. After all this shouldn’t be hard since the population is extremely small. Everyone should have a home and something to eat each day, no matter what type of job they’ve got, or even if they have none. At the same time, capitalism ideas should be adapted, due to the fact that those who work very hard to gain money shouldn’t live the same lifestyle those who don’t work at all win. The ones that are economically advantaged can buy or possess certain things that are not necessary to survive, but absolutely pleasant to have. The previous relates to those material stuff that all of us find ourselves frustrated to have, but only the ones that have the necessary outcomes can purchase, like technological devices, exotic cars, and exclusive-brand clothes. As any other habited place in the world, we will be finding good and bad areas. The leader would have to somehow divide the land to give each one a part that can be qualified to live in it and be worked in it, meaning that people should receive a piece of land where they can construct their own shelters and develop agriculture and have livestock in order to gain money and somehow be productive and nourishing to the society. As well, those who can be classified as rich should be able to buy more land, after all, they’ve been working probably harder than the others and this should be taken into account. In terms of the materials to construct the house, the leader should provide these things or equally divided the resources found in the island, but again, those who are economically more powerful, should have the best types of materials, or not the best structurally, but the prettier and best looking ones.              

By: Catalina Llano Raffo

Reflection

When we were previously discussing about both individual ownership and group ownership, there were a lot of factors that prevented our final decision to be easily elected. We had to go through a lot of discussion before anyone could start writing about the topic. Some preferred to have a total drastic group ownership, while others, tended more to the capitalism side. We had no other option than to make some kind of mixture between the two styles of property management that would make everybody happy in the group. We struggled a lot when talking about the role the leader should have in the island. Some thought that the leader should only be involved politically and not socially, but others believed that a leader should be chosen to lead every aspect of a society, not some. Another thing we struggled with was when talking about the division of land. Some though that everybody should have the same quantity, no matter how rich you were. Others though that you should have the type of land depending on your incomes and amount of money. We decided to combine both ways of thinking, and we ended up democratically choosing a both sided organization. A question that still remains is when talking about the materials and resources needed for constructing. We didn’t know where could we get these materials from. As a consequence, we decided that the most suitable answer would be gathering things from the island and using them as a type of supply. Ownership decisions matter in a society because if there were none, then everybody would go crazy getting whatever they would like, and not respecting other’s possessions. There has to be some type of limits or rules established in the island to promote organization and development.   

By:  Catalina Llano Raffo