Navigating the Fault Lines: Race and Class in Philadelphia's Solidarity Economy

Abstract

In debates over post-capitalist politics, growing attention has been paid to the solidarity economy (SE), a framework that draws together diverse practices ranging from co-ops to community gardens. Despite proponents' commitment to inclusion, racial and class divides suffuse the SE movement. Using qualitative fieldwork and an original SE dataset, this article examines the geospatial composition of the SE within the segregated geography of Philadelphia. We find that though the SE as a whole is widely distributed across the city, it is, with the exception of community gardens, largely absent from poor neighborhoods of color. We also identify SE clusters in racially and economically diverse border areas rather than in predominantly affluent White neighborhoods. Such findings complicate claims about the SE's emancipatory potential and underscore the need for its realignment towards people of color and the poor. We conclude with examples of how the SE might more fully address racial injustice. Resumen: En los debates sobre la política post-capitalista se ha prestado cada vez mas atención a la economía solidaria (ES), marco teórico que reúne diversas prácticas que abarcan desde cooperativas hasta huertos comunitarios. A pesar del compromiso de los proponentes con la inclusión, las divisiones raciales y de clase permean el movimiento de la ES. Utilizando trabajo cualitativo de campo y un levantamiento de datos original, este artículo examina la composición geo-espacial de la ES en el contexto de la segregación espacial de Filadelfia. Observamos que aunque la ES como un todo está ampliamente distribuida por toda la ciudad, está ausente en los barrios pobres de color, con la excepción de los huertos comunitarios. También identificamos grupos de ES en zonas fronterizas, racial y económicamente diversas, más que en barrios predominantemente ricos y blancos. Estos hallazgos complican las afirmaciones acerca del potencial emancipatorio de la ES y subrayan la necesidad de su realineación hacia las personas de color y los pobres. Concluimos con ejemplos de cómo la SE podría abordar más plenamente la injusticia racial.

Unbundling property in Boston’s urban food commons

“…The communities we describe here are mostly white, and sharing often occurs across shared commitments related to local food, sustainability, alternative economies, and sometimes the commons. The persistent whiteness of alternative food networks as well as solidarity economy initiatives is well documented (Borowiak, Healy, & Pavlovskaya, 2018;Slocum, 2007). These dynamics, combined with highly unequal distribution of property ownership and more subtle forms of policing and bias, pose significant barriers for inclusivity in urban commons.…”

Critical GIS as a tool for social transformation

“…Solidarity economy practitioners advocate for collective ownership, workplace democracy, inclusion along all dimensions of difference, and social justice. Solidarity economy is also an international movement with strong participation in South America (e.g., Brazil and Argentina) and Europe (e.g., France, Spain, Italy) (see Miller ; Borowiak ; Borowiak et al ; Sa,ri et al,forthcoming).…”

“…It is in this context that my colleagues and I began working on the project “Mapping the Solidarity Economy in the United States.” Our major goal is to address the discursive silencing and resulting ontological absence of progressive non‐capitalist economic forms. We aim to produce solidarity economy, together with interested actors outside the academia, as an ontological entity that would become a subject of theory, policy, and action (Safri et al, forthcoming; Borowiak et al ). Importantly, we foreground the spatiality of the solidarity economy; making visible geographies of alternative economic practices within the social landscapes of the US works to produce a public discourse on the solidarity economy where none had previously existed.…”

“…As we did ourselves, my students initially expected to find solidarity economy primarily in low‐income and minority areas. In the case of Philadelphia, however, the students discovered that it was concentrated in middle‐class neighbourhoods (see Borowiak et al ) which made them critical of solidarity economy outcomes. The students interpreted the absence of solidarity economy in the neighbourhoods where it was most needed as evidence of a compromised commitment to social justice.…”

Diversity, Discrimination, and Persistent Inequality: Hope for the Future through the Solidarity Economy Movement

“…Although many organizations and activities, such as non‐profits, social enterprises, and corporate social responsibility values provide some respite from the most exploitative forms of organizing and actions, the principles of the solidarity economy are worthy of further scholarship and inquiry. The solidarity economy is a framework for the organization and collaboration of diverse initiatives such as worker, producer, and consumer cooperatives; community development credit unions, community gardens, and other grassroots economic initiatives (Borowiak, Safri, Healy, & Pavlovskaya, ; Miller, ). Because they are operating within a raced and class‐based system, organizations in the solidarity economy are also subject to the systemic discrimination and exclusion of some people that pervades the United States.…”