Debts, Differently: Alternative Finance Organizations in Italy and France

The main purpose of this article is to analyze the possibility of implementing financial practices that, in the principles that guide them, are different from and question the functioning of most banks in capitalist societies. In particular, the article describes the ways in which credit relationships (i.e. relationships between credit institutions and their borrowers) are conceived and shaped by some “alternative” banks and financial cooperatives. The findings are based on ethnographic fieldwork, including observations and in-depth interviews, focused on three financial organizations: Banca Etica (Italy), MAG6 (Italy), and La Nef (France). While striving to establish “another kind of finance”, different from the capitalistic, speculative form, these banks and financial cooperatives aim to create more cooperative and solidarity-based credit relationships.

本文的核心主旨为分析推行新型金融实践的可行性——此类金融实践的指导原则与资本主义社会中绝大多数银行的运作逻辑相悖，并对后者的运作模式提出了质疑。具体而言，本文阐述了部分"另类"银行与金融合作社（financial cooperatives）如何构想并塑造信贷关系（credit relationships），即信贷机构与其借方之间的关系。本研究的结论基于针对三家金融机构的民族志田野调查（ethnographic fieldwork），涵盖实地观察与深度访谈，受访机构分别为意大利的Banca Etica、MAG6以及法国的La Nef。尽管这些机构致力于构建区别于资本主义投机性金融模式的"新型金融"，但其核心目标是打造更具合作性与互助属性的信贷关系。