How is the Social Economy Defined?

The Social Economy has been defined in a number of different ways. The information and definitions below provide a good "jumping off" point for anyone wishing to learn more about the Social Economy and to better understand its function.

Canadian Practitioner Definition:

"The Social Economy includes: social assets (housing, childcare, etc.), social enterprises including cooperatives, equity and debt capital for community investment, social purpose businesses, community training and skills development, integrated social and economic planning, and capacity building and community empowerment. The social economy is a continuum that goes from the one end of totally voluntary organizations to the other end where the economic activity (social enterprise) blurs the line with the private sector." - the CCEDNet National Policy Council, Social Economy Roundtable Consultation Briefing Notes, 2005

Canadian Government Definition:

"Separate from the private sector and government, the social economy includes co-operatives, foundations, credit unions, non-profit organizations, the voluntary sector, charities and social economy enterprises. Social economy enterprises are a component of the social economy that are run like businesses, producing goods and services for the market economy, but manage their operations and redirect their surpluses in pursuit of social and environmental goals." - Western Economic Diversification Canada

International Definition:

"Private companies created to meet their members’ needs through the market by producing goods and providing services, insurance and finance, where profit distribution and decision-making are not directly linked to the capital contributed by each member, each of whom has one vote. The social economy also includes non-profit organisations that are private non-market producers, not controlled by government, produce not-for-sale services for specific groups of households and whose main resources come from voluntary contributions by the households as consumers, payments from the government and income from property." - International Center of Research and Information on the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy (CIRIEC), Monzón Campos, 1997

Scholarly Definitions:

"The social economy refers to all initatives that are not a part of the public economy, nor the tradtional private sector, but where capital and the means of production are collective. The social economy consists of an ensemble of activities and organisations, emerging from collective enterprises that pursue comon principles and shared structural elements." - Neamtan, "The Social and Solidarity Economy: Towards an 'Alternative' Globalisation," 2002

"The social economy is that spectrum of activity located between the public and private sector (and so driven neither by the logic of capital nor by that of the state) which is a form of economic organisation aimed at addressing the social need. It is economic activity which has a social impact, and as such embodies the principle of placing social viability on a par with economic viability, social sustainability being equal to economic sustainability and the two being interdependent." - Mullan and Cox, "Social Movements Never Died: Community Politics and the Social Economy in the Irish Republic," 2000

Definitional Indicators:

SE organizations are generally defined by these indicators:

• formal voluntary association of people or collective bodies
• carrying on an economic activity
• social rules prohibiting or limiting distribution of surpluses
• democratic governance processes
• empowerment