Social Currency and Technology: Analysis of Brazilian Social Currencies and the Palmas Case

Abstract

There are plenty of organizations from private, public and nonpublic areas dealing with the current world development crisis. Some studies have shown alternative systems of use of social and complementary currencies. This paper aims to analyze the social currency used by one a development bank to improve local economy in a poor community in Brazil, using a specific social technology (ST) . We applied an ethnographic approach to the oldest and biggest Brazilian Community Bank (Banco Palmas) and highlight the Palmas social currency creation process and use. This research has allowed the identification of patterns that make possible the ST dissemination to other nonpublic organizations. The results have demonstrated that community banks and their social currencies can play a pervasive role regarding local development, as an effective economic solution technology to reach other disfavored groups. We argue that the reapplication process close social currency use to ST concept.