Touraine's method of Sociological Intervention (SI) for the analysis of social movements is examined in the light of a case study of Local Exchange Trading Schemes (LETS). Tempered by Melucci's critique of Touraine's attempt to find one ‘higher’ meaning of a social movement, LETS was examined using a staged series of focus groups to uncover and illuminate the extent that LETS can be regarded as a social movement. The appropriateness of SI as a method within the resource constraints of a small study is discussed, and SI is recommended as an effective method of examining emerging social movements if triangulated with other methodological approaches.
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