Social and solidarity economy and self-management

Social and solidarity-oriented and self-governed processes of organizing economic life have

existed since humans have collaborated to survive. However, the conscious demand and con-

ceptual realization of the social aspects of the economy only arose in Western thought with

the emergence of a primarily market-based exploitative economy and the enclosed commons,

forcing working people into capitalism’s system of production and exchange (McMurtry,

2010; Polanyi, 2001 [1944]).

This chapter first reviews the most cited definitions of what is increasingly termed the social

and solidarity economy (SSE), related concepts, and their contextual and theoretical perspec-

tives. Secondly, we present four dimensions of the SSE as entry points for discussing and

summarizing its most salient components, taking up both concepts and practices developed

over time and across geographies. Throughout, we also remain sensitive to trans-cultural and

cross-linguistic practices and ways-of-knowing in regard to non-Western social and solidary

economics, which remain mostly inaccessible to mainstream and mostly Western SSE debates.

Finally, we offer summative thoughts on the continued promises and potential of the SSE and

why the work of conceptualizing and visibilizing it is important in the search for other ways of

“doing economy” (Gibson-Graham and Dombroski, 2020, p. 1).