Abstract
The article examines the challenges to self-organisation and upscaling of alternative economies from the viewpoint of defending and negotiating social space. Timebanks in Finland and the UK are presented as examples, analysing the difference of defending such social space in the contexts of a traditional welfare state (in the case of Finland) and an austerity-driven government with a “Big Society” ideology (in the case of UK). Both systems of government present different kinds of pressures on timebanks, pushing them to a given ontological categories and to action in accordance with pre-defined political goals. This difference, along with timebank reactions and the question of prospects of opening ontological space, is analysed through material from observation, interviews with timebanks activists and brokers, and survey data from timebank users.
Highlights
Self-organised small-scale economic systems have recently received considerable attention (Gibson-Graham, 2008; Healy, 2009; North, 2007)
While some timebanks see themselves as complementary to the capitalist economy, others see themselves as articulating a set of values, which could eventually inform a comprehensive alternative to capitalism
In addition to subjecting timebanks to governance via economic categories, timebanks can be governed by the government by pushing them into the “volunteer sector” category
Summary
Self-organised small-scale economic systems have recently received considerable attention (Gibson-Graham, 2008; Healy, 2009; North, 2007). Timebanks see themselves as operating in the social space of “the commons”, transcending dichotomies such as government/market and voluntary/commercial (Benkler, 2006; Ostrom, 1990). Even though timebanks see themselves as operating within the “commons” (Bollier & Helfrich, 2012; Ostrom, 2010), they are unavoidably embedded in a wider societal context governed through other categories This creates a constant need to negotiate their position. In addition to making use of valuable and idle skills, creating new activity, timebanks insist on an idea of value, which recognises existing but undervalued activity. Recognising this undervalued activity means making the “core economy” visible. Some timebanks are standalone timebanks, while others are embedded in NGOs (Collom, Lasker & Kyriacou, 2012)
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