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Working for the Fenland Dollar: An Evaluation of Local Exchange Trading Schemes as an Informal Employment Strategy to Tackle Social Exclusion

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  • Gill Seyfang

    (University of East Anglia)

Abstract

This article argues that in the current context of rising unemployment and growing exclusion from the traditional locus of social cohesion and income distribution, a new approach to social policy and employment is required. The scope of informal employment strategies to tackle social exclusion needs to be examined. One such initiative, which has been attracting increasing attention from policy-makers, is the Local Exchange Trading Scheme (LETS) local grassroots community currency which operates as a cashless trading network for members. LETS have been growing throughout the UK in recent years. Findings are presented from a case study of a LETS scheme. LETS was found to be successful at delivering new informal employment opportunities to socially excluded groups, boosting their income, and providing a forum for social interaction and community-building. However, there is scope for much greater participation. LETS's small size restricts its usefulness in the labour market for informal employment, and current state policy towards benefit recipients working on LETS is an obstacle. Possibilities for mainstream incorporation into welfare strategies are limited by the informal, non-commercial and deeply personal value regime enacted within LETS. Yet professionalisation would threaten this nascent socially embedded economic geography. State support for LETS, while highly desirable, should not be considered an unproblematic advocacy issue.

Suggested Citation

  • Gill Seyfang, 2001. "Working for the Fenland Dollar: An Evaluation of Local Exchange Trading Schemes as an Informal Employment Strategy to Tackle Social Exclusion," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(3), pages 581-593, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:15:y:2001:i:3:p:581-593
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170122119165
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. L Thorne, 1996. "Local Exchange Trading Systems in the United Kingdom: A Case of Re-Embedding?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 28(8), pages 1361-1376, August.
    2. C C Williams, 1996. "Local Exchange and Trading Systems: A New Source of Work and Credit for the Poor and Unemployed?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 28(8), pages 1395-1415, August.
    3. R Lee, 1996. "Moral Money? LETS and the Social Construction of Local Economic Geographies in Southeast England," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 28(8), pages 1377-1394, August.
    4. Williams, Colin C., 1996. "The New Barter Economy: An Appraisal of Local Exchange and Trading Systems (LETS)," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 85-101, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. David Boyle, 2014. "The Potential of Time Banks to support Social Inclusion and Employability: An investigation of the use of reciprocal volunteering and complementary currencies for social impact," JRC Research Reports JRC85642, Joint Research Centre.
    2. Seyfang, Gill & Longhurst, Noel, 2013. "Growing green money? Mapping community currencies for sustainable development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 65-77.
    3. Degens, Philipp, 2013. "Alternative Geldkonzepte - ein Literaturbericht," MPIfG Discussion Paper 13/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.

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