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      The Journal of Fair Trade is calling for papers to curate a Special Edition on the theme of "Livelihoods, Community Resilience & Evironmental Regeneration: the role of smallholder organisations, coops & Social Enterprise". 

      We're welcoming expressions of interest until 1 July 2024 and article subsmissions by 15th January 2025 Call for Papers Volume 6 Issue 2 deadline.

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      Systems, solidarity and fair trade

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            Abstract

            The words fair trade are simple, but the ideas behind them are complex. Systems thinking allows an accessible, pluralistic response in which diversity is a bonus rather than a problem, while the model developed here offers a coherent framework for some familiar ideas, and some perhaps less so. A key distinction is made between procedural and reconstructive fair traders. Procedural fair traders focus on making market procedures more equitable. Reconstructive fair traders seek directly to repair social and environmental inequities arising from market and other systemic failures. These roles are seen as complementary rather than mutually exclusive. Procedural reform of the market rewrites the role of intermediaries in the supply chain from profit maximisation towards facilitation. At the same time, both types of fair trader are concerned by the market’s tendency to externalise social and environmental costs. Both types of fair traders also recognise the importance of consumer awareness: corporate behaviour is influenced both by the aggregate of purchasing decisions and by reputational concerns. All of these factors can be understood in the context of an holistic systems view of fair trade in three dimensions: the qualitative narrative, the quantifiable evidence, and the realities of ethical pluralism. This first model is fairly abstract, although underpinned by genuine experience. There is a further step, in which the contribution of this generalised model to the strategies of fair-trade enterprises will be explored.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Journal
            10.13169/jfairtrade
            Journal of Fair Trade
            JOFT
            Pluto Journals
            2513-9533
            30 March 2022
            2022
            : 3
            : 2
            : 1-15
            Author notes
            [* ] Correspondence: Tony Brauer
            [* ] Correspondence: María Angela Zamora Chaves
            [* ] Correspondence: Mike King
            Article
            10.13169/jfairtrade.3.2.0001
            361567ed-61da-4966-a647-ed8932ebcb7f

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            History
            Page count
            Pages: 15
            Categories
            Essays

            Education,Agriculture,Social & Behavioral Sciences,History,Economics
            equity,fair trade,participation,solidarity,systems modelling techniques,systems thinking,well-being,environment

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