Existing state must be closed
The way in which individuals rent and lease common land, rather than cultivate land that they own it, is evident in the Middle Ages in Europe. This method is called an open field system, in which farmers obtain land use rights from the landlord who owns the land. Open-field system was inefficient for agricultural production and deteriorates technological innovation. Everyone was obliged to comply with village norms for the cultivation and harvesting of crops, and the farmers' practices and economic behavior of the tenants were regulated. Because the farms rented by the serfs were mostly scattered, the time needed to travel between them was also bad for efficiency.
According to development of farming method, the productivity got higher and the serfs no longer depended on the manor of the landlords. The landowners then dismantled their manor and gave the land to the serf. As farmers started to own their own fields and farming method became easier, there were more people who need farmland, and this led to an active movement to secure land ownership. This social change that people fences to clarify ownership is called enclosure movement. The enclosure was instrumental in providing a nationwide industrial base.
Open field systems and enclosure phenomena have the opposite meaning. The meaning of "open" are "not closed in" or "ready" and available; not limited. “Field” is an area of land, used for growing crops or keeping animals, usually surrounded by a fence. “Enclosure” is defined as a place where fences are placed. The notion of "not limited" and an area surrounded by "fence" combine to create an ironic "term". Social terms reflect societies of the times and have social meaning. Social terms are subject to be constantly changed by academic and social change and observed in historical perspective.
Within the open field system, there were no rights and income opening to many peasant farmers. The meaning of freedom, infinite, permissive, and possible implied by the word ‘open’ were possessed by the authority. After that, the fields that were open to the lords began to be closed by the serfs because of social, economic and technological changes. The enclosure refers to a hedge that farmers are hunting for their private property. Power shifted, and the term that demonstrates social change came from farmer behavior.
What is the 'open field' in modern times? It seems to be equally open to all, but there are still situations in which frame is already obscured by society and large norms. There are many things that have already broken the balance of power in the term itself. Until recently, flight attendants were divided into stewardesses and stewards, Humankind was called mankind, and physically challenged person was called disabled person. Discrimination and oppression that have been persisted for a long time or explicitly allowed, created the term Glass ceiling.
Democracy, capitalism, freedom, and equality of information were more common than before. However, the contradictory meaning of the open field system exists in the current era. Conditional democracy, capitalism that disagree to difference, freedom without consideration of others, and inundation of information are not different from the landlord of manor, who called the divided field ‘open field’. As the force moves and the enclosure is made, we have to make sure that the opening thing is open in the right direction.