Helping Each Other Out? : Community Exchange in Deprived Neighbourhoods

In the light of high unemployment in deprived neighbourhoods, this paper considers whether community exchange is being used as a coping strategy. Examining its current magnitude and character as well as the barriers to participation in a particular deprived neighbourhood, this paper finds that community exchange currently reinforces, rather than mitigates, the plight of the poorest in this deprived neighbourhood. In the absence of any likelihood of a return to full-employment in such areas, this paper asserts that unless action is taken to re-build community exchange, these populations will continue to be unable to satisfy their basic needs and wants