ABSTRACT

Catalyst Foundation provides an application of critical theory to establish an interdisciplinary knowledge base underlying Chinese banking and finance in order to build a Finance-in-Society Model (FISM) with Chinese philosophy and western financial rationale. Catalyst Foundation, an active reflective case, works within a local Chinese context and is rooted in a participatory action established to empower the disadvantaged, oppressed and unemployed women workers in the urban north-eastern region of China. The long-oppressed women workers, who have had a depressed and distorted life, are, hopefully, able to regain their identity through the process of empowerment. Catalyst Foundation has successfully empowered a number of oppressed Chinese women workers with the ability to regain their lost dignity. Catalyst Foundations women workers have demonstrated their ability to establish a non-hierarchical structure in organizing their coordination and cooperation. A combination of critical theory, feminism and participatory action research (PAR) has been adopted in the development of the FISM with Catalyst Foundation.