Reflections on the evolving landscape of social enterprise in North America

Abstract

Social enterprises, at least in the United States, internalize a hybrid mix of public, private and civil society activity, each and all of which are constituent and confluent. Is social enterprise re-embedding the market in civil society through its engagement to generate social wealth, or is it contributing to a process of dis-embedding, as a market-based approach to address societal issues imposes a strategy of commercialization? Simply asking this question demonstrates how difficult it is to capture this phenomenon in a homogeneous “new welfare mix” paradigm that realigns state, market and civil society relations. Not only do national contexts matter, but degrees of marketization or commercialization do as well. This article provides a broad overview of social enterprise in the North American context. In examining the literature on social enterprise, one navigates through a lexicon of numerous terms and definitions.

Inovação Social e Empreendedorismo Social: Uma Análise Sob a Perspectiva da Economia Solidária

“…Nos Estados Unidos da América e Canadá, segundo Mendell (2010), a configuração de empreendimentos sociais possui um mix de atividades de serviço público, privada e sociedade civil. Apesar de perceptível a existência desta separação das atividades, o mesmo autor ressalta que estas são confluentes.…”

“…Para Mendell (2010), a evolução da economia solidária e as discussões recentes sobre empreendimento social provêm de discussões anteriores, referentes à década de 1980, sobre o movimento cooperativo. Esta característica, segundo o autor, ressalta a importância de visão compartilhada de mudança social progressiva com vistas a uma inovação social.…”

Social Co-operatives: When Social Enterprises Meet the Co-operative Tradition

“…Even if the Canadian debate on social enterprise shares many features with its US neighbour, it is more embedded in a collective approach to socio-economic innovation (Mendell, 2010). Canadian social enterprises are rooted in a long history of cooperatives and community initiatives.…”

“…They have been established in the early 1980's in urban neighborhoods in Québec to tackle social exclusion of emerging groups in a context of economic crisis. They developed new socio-economic approaches to local development through a process of "institutionalized collaboration between the private sector, community organizations, the labour and social movements" (Mendell, 2010, Favereau, 1998. Inspired by the Italian social cooperative model, legislation was passed in 1997 establishing solidarity cooperatives that include citizens as members.…”

Os dilemas de se estar no fio da navalha: a experiência do Banco Palmas e suas práticas cotidianas

“…Para alguns autores como Kraychete (2005) e Bateman (2007), o incentivo a iniciativas de microcrédito é parte do discurso neoliberal que desloca a noção de pobreza de um viés político para uma orientação de caráter individualizante atrelada ao discurso do empreendedorismo. Nos anos 80, o Banco…”