Translation of: Organisierte Eigenarbeit.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [228]-239) and index.

Foreword 1. Introduction Part I: Household Needs and Systems for Meeting Them: Initial Assumptions and Trends 2. Time, Money and Types of Household: The Example of the Federal Republic of Germany 3. Value Problems and the 'Cooperation Circle' Part II: Local Moneyless Exchange Systems in Historical and International Perspectives 4. 'Useful Activities': An Overview 5. Historical Excursus 6. Canada's 'Local Employment and Trading System' 7. The 'Service Credits' System in the United States 8. The Netherlands: A Case Study of the Exchange Economy 9. The Search for New Ways of Organizing Social Commitment in the Federal Republic of Germany 10. Functional Weaknesses of Moneyless Exchange Networks Part III: Towards a Theory of Moneyless Exchange 11. Strategic Advantages of Money as a Medium of Exchange 12. Examples of Moneyless Transactions Outside the Informal Economy 13. Transactions in Exchange Networks: The Problems Reviewed Part IV: The Cooperation Circle System 14. Proposals on the Practical Design of the Cooperation Circle System 15. Cooperation Circles and Social Reform Notes Bibliography Index

This book examines the debate surrounding the future of waged work and the growth of an informal economy. Through detailed research, Claus Offe and Rolf G. Heinze contend that the nature of waged work, or exchanging time for money, is being transformed. They argue that the experiences of recent decades and the persistent crisis of employment have demonstrated this transition despite the fact that being employed is held to be the normal psychological, social, and economic state of affairs. This is the first sustained analysis of the relationship between work and the informal economy.Focusing on the middle-ground between the two institutionalized sectors of employment private households and the labor market the authors explain how an informal economy has emerged within which goods and services are exchanged, not for money but for mutual assistance, cooperation, and payment in kind. They show how these non-monetary exchanges are becoming organized not only between friends, neighbors, relatives, or members of a club, but through larger scale, innovative systems which they call cooperation circles. Offe and Heinze cite examples of exchange networks in Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and Canada. Claus Offe is Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the University of Bremen. Rolf G. Heinze is Professor of Sociology at the Ruhr-Universitat, Bochum.