The Solidarity Economy in South and North America: Converging Experiences

Abstract

This article explores elements that characterize and boost the Solidarity Economy, based on a comparative analysis of experiences in Latin America and North America. The diversity of models and purposes are underlined so as to demonstrate the main approaches and concepts regarding the so-called new expressions of alternative economies. In the South, these initiatives integrate economic and social dimensions, due to their socio-cultural foundations, and also to their specific rationality, in which efficiency and welfare, productivity and participation are inextricably linked. In the United States, an innovative example from the North, new social dynamics are currently developing in a convergent way, such as worker's cooperatives often associated with the solidarity economy movement itself, as well as different overlapping causes and social movements, from immigration to labor rights. The solidarity economy overall adopts another logic, in which the economic, social and political dimensions are integrated, and responds to emancipatory aspirations aiming at promoting global changes. In different contexts, Solidarity Economy organizations play an important role in the development of grassroots initiatives, whose main goals are an equitable and sustainable development as well as effective political citizenship.

Elaboration of a Cereal Bar Using Cassava (Manihot Esculenta Crantz) as Thickening Agent / Elaboração De Barra De Cereal Utilizando a Mandioca (Manihot Esculenta Crantz) Como Agente Espessante

“…The results of the physicochemical analysis of cereal bars are presented in Table 2. The percentages are positive and, therefore, the cereal bars of this study may be considered a good protein option compared to other cereal bars currently elaborated (Dias et al, 2010;Lara et al, 2019). Marchese & Novello (2017) point out that the greater the protein content in a cereal bar, the better its function, because it may be a specific source of nutrients in some diets, such as protein.…”

La economía popular y solidaria: Un medio para reducir la vulnerabilidad socioeconómica

“…Mientras que Miller (2009) expuso que la EPS en lugar el priorizar el lucro propio sobre el resto de agentes, se orienta a esquemas económicamente solidarios, y respetuosos con el medio ambiente. Gaiger (2017) determinó que en Sur América el concepto de EPS aplica a colectivos compuestos por cooperantes, y que está orientadas a generar ganancias a ser transferidas íntegramente a sus miembros. Ello, en función de principios democráticos y solidarios, considerando la productividad y bienestar social.…”

Da Informalidade à Economia Popular: distinguindo realidades e conectando abordagens

“…In particular, solidarity economy initiatives demonstrate the crucial role of the association among free citizens as the basis for problem-solving and for the emergence of contemporary solidarities able to resist the threats of new forms of domination. As the literature has shown (Caillé, 2001;Laville, 2010;Gaiger, 2017), the solidarity economy renews and recovers politics in the global South and North, as it fosters a dialogical space of concertation, and acts as a counterweight to the weakening of social ties and the crisis of democracy.…”

“…This paper's theoretical and conceptual foundations are built on various research fieldworks (Gaiger, 2011(Gaiger, , 2017Gaiger and Ferrarini, 2010) and on an eminently bibliographical examination of the literature on the subject. This has led to the conclusion that we need, as stated by Chen (2012: 20), "a new economic paradigm: a model of a hybrid economy that embraces the traditional and the modern, the small scale and the big scale, the informal and the formal".…”