Abstract

The current period of finance-driven capitalism, which can be broadly dated from the mid-1970s, has had profound implications for community development. Yet there is relatively little sustained engagement with research on financialized capitalism in community development circles. Bringing together writers and activists from a variety of contexts, the purpose of this special issue is to demonstrate the significance of financialization and its connections, on various levels, to community development globally. This introductory article synthesizes the insights of our contributors with scholarship from the fields of critical political economy, economic and historical sociology, and social movement studies, among others. In doing so, it analyses the diverse and variegated ways financialized capitalism is affecting communities’ access to public resources, affordable housing, safe and stable livelihoods, and a clean and healthy environment. We also highlight how the complexity and depth of financialization, and the extent to which it relies on highly specialized and inaccessible forms of knowledge to reproduce itself, impacts on community development as a form of praxis. The institutional cover provided to the system of finance by states and international financial institutions, and by certain NGOs and community organizations, has deeply embedded financialization at macro, micro and meso levels of the economy and society. However, while financialization places profound and often insurmountable constraints on community development’s democratic ideals, some of our contributors have pointed to possible ways forward. These are characterized by intensive popular education, political engagement and action. We also outline these in the hope that the special issue will contribute to more discussion of these vital processes and stimulate further purposive action.

中文翻译：

---

社区发展与金融化：建立联系

摘要

当前的金融驱动的资本主义时期可以大致追溯到1970年代中期，对社区发展产生了深远的影响。然而，在社区发展界，与金融化资本主义研究的持续参与相对较少。本期特刊汇集了来自不同背景的作家和活动家，目的是展示金融化及其在各个层面上对全球社区发展的重要性。这篇介绍性文章综合了来自重要政治经济学，经济和历史社会学以及社会运动研究等领域的学者们对学者的见解。在这样做，它分析了金融化资本主义影响社区获得公共资源，负担得起的住房，安全稳定的生计以及清洁健康的环境的多种方式。我们还将重点介绍金融化的复杂性和深度，以及金融化在多大程度上依赖高度专业化和难以获得的知识形式来自我复制，这对实践作为一种形式的社区发展产生了影响。国家和国际金融机构以及某些非政府组织和社区组织为金融体系提供的机构保护，已深深地嵌入了经济和社会的宏观，微观和中观水平的金融化。但是，尽管金融化对社区发展的民主理想施加了深刻且往往是无法克服的制约，我们的一些贡献者指出了可能的前进方向。这些特点是密集的普及教育，政治参与和行动。我们还概述了这些内容，以希望该特刊将有助于对这些重要过程的更多讨论，并刺激采取进一步的有目的的行动。