The social and solidarity economy: the contribution of emergence and the importance of North–South dialogue

Jean-Louis Laville

Chapter 12 in A Modern Guide to the Social and Solidarity Economy, 2026, pp 253-273 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In the last decades of the 20th century, social and solidarity economy (SSE) initiatives invigorated the social economy (SE) so much that the term “social and solidarity-based economy” became widely used. Based on a North–South dialogue (France and Brazil are taken as examples), we argue that the SSE is not simply a fringe development of the SE: it provides an opportunity to reconfigure the whole by taking emerging trends into account. First, the chapter summarizes the meanings of “social economy” from the early 19th to the late 20th century. Second, it looks at the transition to the SSE, motivated by the emergence of both voluntary and compulsory collectives. Finally, it presents the characteristics of this transformative SSE: an option for substantive economy and democracy, real commitment to the common good, and a change in the way we think, substituting the horizon of growth with that of a good life.

Keywords: Emergences; Transformation; Global South; Intercultural Dialogue; Social Change; Democracy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035310890
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