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What Is the Third Oikos? - by Nicole Ruiz - The Third Oikos

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Welcome to The Third Oikos, a newsletter about what the good life looks like when technology is reshaping the household. Oikos is a Greek term that means house, household, or family. The management of household work — oikonomia — is where we get the word “economy.” This project came from an essay by Jon Askonas and Michael Toscano in National Affairs; they argued that history has been dominated by two main forms of household organization and production. But, almost without noticing, we’ve passed into a third form. The first oikos was the household until the Industrial Revolution. Before that shift, the household was the central hub of economic production, and production was ordered by the needs of the household. In different societies, men and women had different roles, but “work” was something that both sexes did. The second oikos came with the Industrial Revolution. Society centered on rational or scientific production, which moved outside of the household. In this period, productivi

What Is the Third Oikos? Tech is reshaping the household. What does the good life look like now? Nicole Ruiz Oct 31, 2025 69 15 11 Share Welcome to The Third Oikos , a newsletter about what the good life looks like when technology is reshaping the household. What are we talking about? Oikos is a Greek term that means house, household, or family. The management of household work — oikonomia — is where we get the word “economy.” This project came from an essay by Jon Askonas and Michael Toscano in National Affairs ; they argued that history has been dominated by two main forms of household organ

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