The Solidarity Economy: An Introduction
By Jenna Allard and Julie Matthaei, Guramylay: Growing the Green Economy
The Solidarity Economy: An Introduction |
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By Jenna Allard and Julie Matthaei, Guramylay: Growing the Green Economy |
The solidarity economy is a new way of naming and conceptualizing the many types of transformative economic values, practices, and institutions that exist in the U.S. and all over the world. These include, but are not limited to, egalitarian and participatory economic behavior by individuals, workers, and producers, such as by an individual who is an ethical consumer, worker, and/or investor, or by a worker-coop, fair trade business, or progressive union. Solidarity production processes can also take many forms, from self-employed entrepreneurs and local small-scale businesses, to high road businesses and corporations, to worker-owned cooperatives and collectives, to community businesses. Many of these practices and organizations have arisen in response to the injustices and imbalances of neo-liberalism. The solidarity economy is also the process of uniting these various forms of transformative economics in a network of solidarity: solidarity with a shared vision, solidarity with shared values, and solidarity with the oppressed. Thus, the work of building the solidarity economy is both to grow transformative economic values, practices, and institutions, and also to connect people and organizations that are already doing solidarity-based work in their own communities. The solidarity economy is being defined from the grassroots, by the many diverse groups and individuals who are building transformative economic institutions. Thus, the term has a variety of meanings which are sometimes contradictory (click here for solidarity economy definitions from all over the world). In the United States, many solidarity economy practices, institutions, and networks already exist, but there is no conceptual framework linking these enterprises, or overarching network of solidarity economy organizations. This website, which is a work in progress, aims to provide an introduction to the solidarity economy. We include a summary of key aspects of the solidarity economy, written by the Social/Solidarity Economy Coordinating Group for the USSF, and to organize some helpful links to assist in further research. Please send us your comments and suggestions at transformationcentral@growingthegreeneconomy.org or post on our blog! |