The Economic Sphere

The economic aspects of DIY are far-reaching and complex. When DIY home construction projects became a mass cultural phenomenon in the US and Britain in the 1950s it was primarily as a response to economic and labor-market conditions of the immediate postwar era. Taking on DIY was a way for new homeowners to conserve money and assert their of self-reliance. Yet the popularity of the DIY movement remained far after the wartime economic burdens were lifted. Today, Do-it-Yourself continues to symbolize personal responsibility and financial independence from the corporate world. (Though this is often more of a moral stance then a true economic need.) The concept of Yankee Ingenuity and personal entrepreneurism still has a very sacred spot in American mythos. The ‘garage workshop’ holds a special place in capitalist society as the site where many enterprises begin off-the-beaten track and outside the normal route of business. Technology and economics overlap regularly: within the past decade many new companies have sprung up that capitalize on DIYers creative products. For example, the internet offers many new way to distribute, market and sell independent music or personal publishing. DIY is not inherently capitalist or anti-capitalist. It can run the gamut from the punk DIY ethic of creative commons, disavowing corporate culture to the DIY entrepreneur’s dream of creating the invention that will strike it rich.