Rethinking the Social and Solidarity Economy in Light of Community Practice

Abstract

Building social alternatives is necessary to resist the destructive impacts of the capitalist organization on the quality of life, social organization, and the planet. This paper offers an analysis of the ways in which peoples are mobilizing to build organizations and to define social movements to move beyond current crises. The lines for constructing an ecologically sound and social-solidarity economy require mechanisms for mutual cooperation based on alternative systems of decision making as well as for doing work and assuring well-being to every member of the community. These depend on forging a process of solidarity among the members of a society as well as building alliances among communities; to assure the satisfaction of basic needs while also attending the most pressing requirements for physical, social and environmental infrastructure and to assure the conservation and rehabilitation of their ecosystems.

Social and Solidarity Economy in South American regional governance

“…Likewise, the feminist movement articulated in transnational networks, such as the International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN) or the Latin American Network of Women Transforming the Economy (REMTE), also contributed to the conceptual developments of the SSE, most notably the notion of the economy of care (Razavi and Staab, 2012). Moreover, the peasant movement – represented regionally in the Latin American by the Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC) and globally in Via Campesina – added the food sovereignty agenda and the defense of agro-ecological production (Barkin and Lemus, 2014). The SSE perspective connects such diverse expressions of socio-productive practices based on principles of reciprocity and solidarity.…”