The politics of money, growth-dependency and monetary transformation - The case of the Makkie time-bank in Amsterdam-Oost

Abstract

Global financialization has led the politics of money and debt to be increasingly contested. Debt-based monetary creation, accumulation and artificial scarcity engrain competition, exploitation and growth dependency in capitalist economies. Through the proliferation of complementary currencies, communities show that there are ways to reclaim and reorganize monetary systems to sustain their livelihoods beyond capitalist market relations. This research presents a critical framework to analyze monetary logics in capitalist economies as well as in community currency networks. Community currencies are based on the principle of cooperation, monetary abundance and plurality and hence have the potential to diversify and democratize the economy. Time-banks foster greater social capital, care, solidarity and collaboration within communities. They have a different value system and facilitate economic exchanges that would not take place otherwise. The case of the Makkie, a time-bank from Amsterdam-Oost, is analyzed through the lens of institutional logics: the conflicting relationship to the surrounding political-economic environment, the values, meanings and rules of the network, as well as to socio-economic practices it enables. Since 2012, the expansion of the network and progressive co-optation by the local government has infused the gift-economy network organized around use-value and solidarity with welfare rules and capitalist practices. The difficulty of the Makkie network to sustain itself without the municipality funding, and to stay embedded in the community in spite of scaling-up represent important challenges for community currencies.