Social currency as a regional economic alternative

a study about the social currency of Palma

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze social currency as a regional economic alternative considering its potential, as a social technology, for local development, in addition to acting as a feasible and promoter of protagonism, autonomy, emancipation, democratic management and empowerment of the subjects and of the communities in the face of the economic and commercial challenges and tensions faced by certain communities in traditional and conventional economic relations. A historical-conceptual bibliographic rescue was carried out in the specialized literature, followed by a descriptive methodology and survey of scientific production, which addressed the aspects and structures that make up the social currency, its particularities and uses. Soon after, we proceeded with a case study on the social currency of Palma, considered the first social currency in Brazil, created and used by Conjunto Palmeiras, a peripheral neighborhood in the city of Fortaleza-CE, in order to understand the particularities of appropriation and use of currency in the real world. As a result, it was identified: a) the need for a regulation of social currencies by the Brazilian State; b) positive economic impacts for the currency user community; c) a paradox between the legitimacy and the disuse of the currency.

Keywords: Social currency. Solidarity economy. Local development. Self-management. Social technology.