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Money and Liberation The Micropolitics of Alternative Currency Movements Peter North |
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$75.00 cloth |
A firsthand view of local currencies that are providing alternatives to global capital. Is conventional money simply a discourse? Is it merely a socially constructed unit of exchange? If money is not an actual thing, are people then free to make collective agreements to use other forms of currency that might work more effectively for them? Proponents of “better money” argue that they have created currencies that value people more than profitability, ensuring that human needs are met with reasonable costs and decent wages—and supporting local economies that emphasize local sustainability. How did proponents develop these new economies? Are their claims valid? Grappling with these questions and more, Money and Liberation examines the experiences of groups who have tried to build a more equitable world by inventing new forms of money. Presenting in-depth profiles of the trading networks that have been constructed both historically and more recently, including Local Exchange Trading Schemes (England), Green Dollars (New Zealand), Talente (Hungary), and the barter system in Argentina, Peter North shows how the use of currency has been redefined as part of political action, revealing surprising political ambiguity and a nuanced understanding of the potential and limits on alternative currencies as a resistance practice. “You will find inspiration and information in this excellent book.” —GreenWorld “If ever there was a single time or place for thinking about economic alternatives, including ways of representing economic geography outside the globalization narrative, here and now offers a suitably propitious moment to consider Peter North’s excellent book on Money and Liberation. This book offers a passionate an yet appropriately sanguine investigation into the alternative geographies of economics. It amounts to a significant contribution to rethinking the economy outside pre-given relational narrative frameworks of capital flows and globalization.” —Journal of Economic Geography “It is rare that you read a book so good—so incisive in its analysis, radical in its prescriptions, and thorough in its evidence—that it makes you not only envious but quite literally angry that you did not write it yourself. I found Pete North’s new book on money that good. He has traveled widely in space and time to bring a depth of analysis missing from other books which cover some of the same territory.” —Review of International Political Economy “Peter North’s optimistic argument should help to reinvigorate and redirect the discussion of economic alternatives for a long time to come.” —Economic Geography “It is rare that you read a book so good—so incisive in its analysis, radical in its prescriptions, and thorough in its evidence—that it makes you not only envious but quite literally angry that you did not write it yourself. I found Pete North’s new book on money that good. He has traveled widely in space and time to bring a depth of analysis missing from other books which cover some of the same territory.” —Review of Radical Political Economics “North’s social science approach is a welcome complement, creating a more grounded, complex portrait of what alternative currencies actually look like.” —American Journal of Sociology Peter North is lecturer in geography at the University of Liverpool. 240 pages | 5 7⁄8 x 9 | 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments 1. Beyond the Veil? Money and Economies Conclusion: The Ghost of Marx and Simmel? |
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$25.00 paper