Alternative organizations in finance: Commoning in complementary currencies

Abstract

The commons are alternative social and economic practices for fostering community development and regeneration. While the role of finance is increasingly criticized as a trigger for individualism, community currencies (CCs) are one of the financial initiatives that aim to reorganize finance in the collective interest. We analyze to what extent these alternative systems allow finance to constitute common goods, or 'commons'. To this end, we investigate the commoning practices through which resources are created, distributed and consumed in a way that promotes new collectives. We analyze the extent to which CCs can be considered as commons. Our findings suggest that, although these monetary services are privately used and consumed, they have strong collective attributes such as community-building as well as the insertion of solidarity and cooperative values in money. Finally, we inquire into the limits and ambiguities of these alternatives relative to the capitalist system. We analyze the extent to which CCs can be considered as commons. Our findings suggest that, although these monetary services are privately used and consumed, they have strong collective attributes such as community-building as well as the insertion of solidarity and cooperative values in money. Finally, we inquire into the limits and ambiguities of these alternatives relative to the capitalist system.

Institutional Entrepreneurship in a Contested Commons: Insights from Struggles Over the Oasis of Jemna in Tunisia

“…Our study provides fresh insights on the social construction of commons and its two main concepts of social meaning and community (Ansari et al 2013;Fournier 2013). Previous work posits that social meanings of commons emerge and diffuse through theorization and framing strategies that highlight the vulnerability of resources (Ansari et al 2013), the necessity of acting (Blomley 2008), or the opportunity of leveraging new technologies to collectively create social value (Meyer and Hudon 2017). By examining contested commons, we uncover different strategies that infuse commons with meaning.…”

“…Many contemporary commoning challenges are of this nature. Examples include the collective management of the natural environment (Rodgers et al 2012), the creation of complementary currencies (Meyer and Hudon 2017), identification of urban commons (Correa et al 2018;Unnikrishnan et al 2016), and the attribution of symbolic public goods such as nationalism (Rao 2008) or connection to the divine (Yue et al 2019).…”

“…Scholars increasingly consider commons as an alternative to neo-liberalism for creating wealth (Akrivou and Sison 2016) and addressing pressing social and environmental issues (Ratten and Welpe 2011). New kinds of commons are also emerging; ones that are not necessarily tied to natural resources (Ostrom 2002) but are rather the product of social construction around digital, creative, or cultural artifacts or issues (e.g., Meyer and Hudon 2017).…”

Complementary Currencies: An Analysis of the Creation Process Based on Sustainable Local Development Principles

“…Although there are multiple causes, the most prevalent purposes are political, economic, and social, although their basic use will always be as a complement to common money [30]. Based on the aforementioned values, we ve taken special note of the LETS model called the System of Exchange and Local Transactions (SINTRAL) of Ecuador, which has generated highly valuable resources such as educational services [31], or the "Banco de Las Palmas", considered as a national model that inspired the community development bank system [32]. Complementary currencies are not exclusively promoted as an economic benefit, although they may have profit seeking aims.…”

Money and the Commons: An Investigation of Complementary Currencies and Their Ethical Implications

“…The nonprofit and solidarity dimensions of human activities are used to support a political project, in this case the re-appropriation and democratization of money. By creating their own institutional arrangements, citizens "disenclose" decision-making power; this allows them to consciously and actively decide which direction the monetary system should take (Barinaga, 2017;Meyer and Hudon, 2017;Périlleux and Nyssens, 2017). Hence, a project of social transformation is visible in several CC systems: a socio-political transformation towards a monetary system governed by human needs, not capital returns.…”