Working Outside the Box: Community Currencies, Time Banks and Social Inclusion

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
GILL SEYFANG
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Informal Employment ◽  
Voluntary Work ◽  
Local Exchange ◽  
Community Currencies ◽  
Formal Employment ◽  
The Uk

A conceptual framework is developed for analysing UK social policy with respect to work, employment, inclusion and income. A range of possibilities for ‘productive engagement in work’ (PEW) outside the home are identified, ranging from formal employment, through informal employment, working for local community currencies, to unpaid voluntary work, each attracting particular policy responses, according to the hegemonic discourse of social exclusion, namely a liberal individualistic model which sees insertion into the labour market as the solution to exclusion. A new initiative is examined which is increasingly being adopted by local authorities in their efforts to tackle social exclusion and build social capital, namely ‘time banks’: a type of community currency which rewards people in time credits for the work they put into their neighbourhoods. Time banks are found to occupy a space in between what is already known about informal employment, LETS (Local Exchange Trading Schemes) and volunteering, raising a number of issues for policy makers and practitioners. While time banks may be promoted within the UK government's social inclusion remit as a means of increasing job-readiness through volunteering, they have wider and deeper implications. They represent a response to a radical social democratic understanding of social exclusion and hence exert a collective effort to redefine what is considered ‘valuable work’, and thus present an alternative to hegemonic paradigms of work and welfare; their greatest potential is as a radical tool for collective social capital building, resulting in more effective social, economic and political citizenship, and hence social inclusion. Policy recommendations are made to enable time banks to flourish and provide a powerful tool for achieving social inclusion objectives.

scholarly journals Community work – a cure for stigma and social exclusion?

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 281-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justine Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Mental Health Providers ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Cost

SummaryIt is possible to tackle exclusion by altering the nature of transactions between individuals and groups, including mental health services. One way to do this is to cultivate ‘social capital’ or interdependence between individuals and groups – as well as giving, each is entitled, but not compelled, to claim something in return. It is difficult, if not impossible, to sustain stigma and social exclusion when people are meeting mutual needs, building trust and helping each other. Mental health providers can foster social capital by creating community cohesion, namely interdependent relationships between individuals and organisations. This approach has been put into practice in the USA, where providers assert that small investments in building social capital return many times the cost. In the UK there is evidence that community development can make a contribution to mental health but it does not fit well with conventional approaches to mental health services – it calls for different skills and a vision that is collective rather than individualised.

scholarly journals Social Exclusion and Austerity Policies in England: The Role of Sports in a New Area of Social Polarisation and Inequality?

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Collins ◽  
Rein Haudenhuyse
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Sport Participation ◽  
Sports Participation ◽  
Leisure Sports ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Socially Excluded

Poverty still counts as the core of social exclusion from sport and many other domains of people’s lives. In the first part of this paper, we shortly describe the recent poverty trends in England, and identify groups that are more at-risk of being poor and socially excluded. We then focus on the relationship between poverty, social exclusion and leisure/sports participation, and describe a case study that addresses young people’s social exclusion through the use of sports (i.e., <em>Positive Futures</em>). Although further analysis is warranted, it would seem that growing structural inequalities (including sport participation)—with their concomitant effects on health and quality of life—are further widened and deepened by the policy measures taken by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the UK. In addition, within a climate of austerity, sport-based social inclusion schemes are likely to become wholly inadequate in the face of exclusionary forces such schemes envision to combat.

Social Capital and Third Places Through the Internet

2011 ◽  
pp. 1904-1923
Author(s):  
Duncan Timms ◽  
Sara Ferlander
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Interpersonal Trust ◽  
Community Identity ◽  
Third Places ◽  
Third Place ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
Ict Revolution

Although Sweden is generally considered to be at the forefront of the ICT revolution and to have high levels of social capital – interpersonal trust and participation – there remain areas and populations which are relatively disadvantaged. In this chapter we examine a number of efforts which have attempted to make use of ICT to enhance social capital in a Stockholm suburb which has been stigmatised in the press and which contains relatively high proportions of immigrants, single parents and the unemployed, all groups which are relatively excluded. An initial effort, based on the installation of a local community network, largely failed. A second effort, based on a locally-run Internet Café was more successful, with the café operating as a Third Place, both online and offline, bridging many of the divisions characterising the community. Despite its success in encouraging participation, trust and community identity, the IT-Café could not be sustained following the end of project funding and a change in personnel. The factors accompanying the success and failure of the Swedish undertakings provide lessons for other efforts to use ICTs in attempts to enhance social inclusion and community.

The Police Act and the Recruitment of Offenders: Towards the Limits of Social Exclusion?

10.1068/c0126 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 757-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Del Roy Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Job Applicants ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
Criminal Records ◽  
The Social ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Uk

The social exclusion agenda has been enthusastically embraced by policymakers across Europe. A key feature of this agenda is the emphasis on paid work as a mechanism of social inclusion. However, the UK government is about to implement the Police Act (1997) which will increase the access of employers to the criminal records of job applicants. The author investigates how employers currently respond to job applications from offenders, and examines the likely impact of this new legislation on their recruitment. The key findings are that the Police Act will heighten discrimination against offenders, undermining the policy focus on combating social exclusion. This contradiction reflects the increasingly punitive response of successive UK governments to those committing criminal acts, and the narrow way in which social exclusion has been defined.

‘E-stablishing’ an Inclusive Society? Technology, Social Exclusion and UK Government Policy Making

2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
NEIL SELWYN
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Policy Statements ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Industrialised Countries ◽  
Inclusive Society

In many industrialised countries information and communication technology (ICT) is now being seen as a ready means through which governments can address issues of social exclusion. Indeed, in the UK this perspective has been quickly translated into a multi-billion pound policy agenda aimed at using ICT for socially inclusive purposes. Yet, beyond rhetorical concerns over bridging the perceived ‘digital divide’ and alleviating disparities between the information ‘rich’ and ‘poor’, little critical consideration has been given to how technology is being used by governments to achieve socially inclusive aims. This paper therefore examines the UK government’s ICT-based social policy drive through official documentation, policy statements and political discourse – considering the ‘problems’ that it sets out to address, the substance of the policies, and the perceived rationales and benefits for doing so. Having explored the official construction of these policies, the paper then examines how well founded this policy framework is in terms of achieving its stated aims of widening access to ICT and effectively facilitating ‘social inclusion’. The paper concludes by developing a critical perspective of such ICT policies which reveals deeper economic rationales informing this ostensibly ‘social’ policy programme.

Social Capital and Third Places Through the Internet

2011 ◽  
pp. 199-217
Author(s):  
Duncan Timms ◽  
Sara Ferlander
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Interpersonal Trust ◽  
Community Identity ◽  
Third Places ◽  
Third Place ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
Ict Revolution

Although Sweden is generally considered to be at the forefront of the ICT revolution and to have high levels of social capital – interpersonal trust and participation – there remain areas and populations which are relatively disadvantaged. In this chapter we examine a number of efforts which have attempted to make use of ICT to enhance social capital in a Stockholm suburb which has been stigmatised in the press and which contains relatively high proportions of immigrants, single parents and the unemployed, all groups which are relatively excluded. An initial effort, based on the installation of a local community network, largely failed. A second effort, based on a locally-run Internet Café was more successful, with the café operating as a Third Place, both online and offline, bridging many of the divisions characterising the community. Despite its success in encouraging participation, trust and community identity, the IT-Café could not be sustained following the end of project funding and a change in personnel. The factors accompanying the success and failure of the Swedish undertakings provide lessons for other efforts to use ICTs in attempts to enhance social inclusion and community.

scholarly journals A New Model for Inclusive Sports? An Evaluation of Participants’ Experiences of Mixed Ability Rugby

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martino Corazza ◽  
Jen Dyer
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Self Advocacy ◽  
New Model ◽  
The Uk

Sport has been recognised as a potential catalyst for social inclusion. The Mixed Ability Model represents an innovative approach to inclusive sport by encouraging disabled and non-disabled players to interact in a mainstream club environment. However, research around the impacts of the Model is currently lacking. This paper aims to contribute empirical data to this gap by evaluating participants’ experiences of Mixed Ability Rugby and highlighting implications for future initiatives. Primary qualitative data were collected within two Mixed Ability Rugby teams in the UK and Italy through online questionnaires and focus groups. Data were analysed using Simplican et al.’s (2015) model of social inclusion. Data show that Mixed Ability Rugby has significant potential for achieving inclusionary outcomes. Positive social impacts, reported by all participants, regardless of (dis)ability, include enhanced social networks, an increase in social capital, personal development and fundamental perception shifts. Factors relevant to the Mixed Ability Model are identified that enhance these impacts and inclusionary outcomes. The mainstream setting was reportedly the most important, with further aspects including a supportive club environment and promotion of self-advocacy. A ‘Wheel of Inclusion’ is developed that provides a useful basis for evaluating current inclusive sport initiatives and for designing new ones.

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