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The purpose of this paper is to present the policies in the field of social and solidarity economics (SSE) in India and in Brazil, to draw a comparison between them and to present their strengths and weaknesses. This proposal is based on the innovative initiative of an ongoing collaboration between India and Brazil in the field of SSE within the South-South Triangular Cooperation framework of the International Labor Organization.

The methodological procedures used for the elaboration of this article were: literature review in both countries and field trips to India and Brazil.

The study helped us understand the realities of SSE in both countries. The importance of SSE can be observed as a means to deal with poverty and the need to generate income for portions of the population, in spite of the historic, cultural, political, economic and social differences. The Indian experience contributes to the theme of the insertion of women in the mechanisms of generation of work positions and income opportunities, whereas the Brazilian experience contributes to the topic of social cooperativism.

Despite the contributions of SSE to mitigate poverty and income deficiency, considering a significant share of the poor, particularly in India, the mechanisms for inclusion of this population are limited. A similar situation, however, to a lesser degree can also be observed in Brazil.

This study is an input for the elaboration of public policies of SSE, including the advantages of its transversality.

Besides, it will also help in the analysis and elaboration of social policies from an integrated and emancipatory view.

Within the international context, the authors understand that this was the first comparative study on the topic of SSE, undertaken between Brazil and India.

The literature of ethnic ownership economies descends from middleman minority theory, a subject it continues to include. However, ethnic economy literature now more broadly addresses the economic independence of immigrants and ethnic minorities in general, not just of middleman minorities (Light & Bonacich, 1991, pp. xii–xiii).¹ This expansion releases the subject from narrow concentration upon historical trading minorities, and opens discussion of the entire range of immigrant and ethnic minority strategies for economic self-help and self-defense. Partial or full economic independence represents a ubiquitous self-defense of immigrants and ethnic minorities who confront exclusion or disadvantage in labor markets. Ethnic economies permit immigrants and ethnic minorities to reduce disadvantage and exclusion, negotiating the terms of their participation in the general labor market from a position of greater strength. Unable to find work in the general labor market, or unwilling to accept the work that the general labor market offers, or just reluctant to mix with foreigners, immigrants and ethnic minorities have the option of employment or self-employment in the ethnic economy of their group. Although ethnic and immigrant groups differ in how well and how much they avail themselves of this defense (Collins, 2003; Light & Gold, 2000, p. 34; Logan & Alba, 1999, p. 179), none lacks an ethnic economy.²

The title indicates an evolution which in the prevailing idiom of economics would not be possible. One does not develop an economic system from a dogma, depending to some extent on how one chooses to define dogma. What is more, anyone who is familiar with Juan Donoso Cortes (1809–1853), the man who first designated solidarity as a dogma, knows that he was a political philosopher. And anyone who is familiar with Heinrich Pesch, the man who first outlined a system of economics which he called Solidarism, knows that he was a Jesuit priest, Now while Jesuits and political philosophers, especially Spanish Roman Catholic ones, probably have something to say to each other, what would the likes of them have to do with a value‐neutral science?

The paper presents the concept of Solidarity Economy proposed by the Austrian-Brazilian economist and professor Paul Singer who passed away in 2018 at age 86 years in his home in São Paulo. Singer arrived at the concept of Solidarity Economy by mixing utopian socialist thought originated in Europe during the Industrial Revolution with the wisdom of Latin American working people to find alternative paths to the capitalist economic system. Following the teachings of Paul Singer, we, as practitioners and academics, report the first stage of the formation of a popular cooperative in the sector of recycling that occurred between 2019 and 2021 in the Town of Goiás, Goiás, Brazil. Our analysis of this collective endeavour leads to two main lessons: first, Solidarity Economy is an even broader proposal of an alternative to the capitalist economy than Paul Singer imagined, because its roots are not restricted to the European cooperativism of the nineteenth century, and second, economics must be taught in more popular way because the most urgent economic problems affect primarily the working people.

A welfare state can be interpreted as an institution that tries to materialize the idea of solidarity. To get a better understanding of the functioning of a welfare state and its competitiveness, this article discusses the concept of “solidarity” and its counterpart “rivalry”. In orthodox ethics solidarity is interpreted as a moral imperative; in orthodox economics eventual transfers are costs that must be justified by utilities derived from it (through the avoidance of social unrest for instance). By applying the usual investment formula to decide whether an investment would be profitable, this article shows that decisions about solidarity transfers are influenced by morality, mentality, rationality and the apparent belief systems of the decision takers. Because “modern” sociology does not pay adequate attention to the sources of human rivalry, the contributions of the linguist and anthropologist Girard are discussed to see whether this offers a valuable approach.

The first French context of microfinance dates from the 1980's. As a matter of fact, the “grameen bank” model was imported at this time to France by M. Nowak, through her Association for an individual right to undertake: “Association pour le Droit à l'Initiative Economique” (ADIE). But today the domestic landscape of solidarity‐based finance counts plenty of “new” actors, such as: CIGALES, la NEF among others, not to forget intermediated social finance firms: Cooperative banks and public banks with social objectives like the Crédits Municipaux. The purpose of this paper is to show how solidarity‐based finance actors try to supply banking products and services to those who are excluded from access to the banking system and to test the hypothesis of an alternative financial system that is “socially responsible” in articulation with public and private sectors.

A typology of social banking actors is proposed. The nature of responsibility of each actor of this other kind of finance is described.

Social and solidarity‐based economy needs to be recognized by contemporary economics. Solidarity‐based finance shows us that another sustainable development model is possible.

This paper provides incentive to other social economists to continue this work in cooperation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the theoretical foundations of the solidarity network concept and its perceived utility as an enabling force for social organizations to influence change. The theoretical framework presented is intended to stimulate dialogue, interest and investigation on the subject of solidarity networks.

The paper adopts a discourse analysis‐type approach to developing a theoretical framework for conceptualizing solidarity networks through an analytical review of existing literature on solidarity and solidarity networks. It is through consideration of this literature that the “threads” of a theoretical model for solidarity networks are “woven” together.

Based on the findings of the analysis the paper asserts that the following characteristics are among the defining elements of solidarity networks and help to form the basis of a theoretical framework that strives to create a more cohesive understanding and an applied exploration for future analytical investigations. These characteristics are: support for “broad” values, anti‐oppression and vision‐based solidarity for the future; the flexibility and adaptability of the network's organizational structure and issue‐area(s) of focus; that network members are motivated by a sense of mutuality, or mutual self‐interest; that network members are motivated by “high‐order” values associated with the “public good”; and that there is a demonstrated ethic of social responsibility and social justice.

The paper represents a theoretically‐based approach to conceptualizing solidarity networks. It adds new dimensions to one's thinking about social networks as a form of social relationship and social network analysis (SNA) as a “tool” for describing social relationships.

Schumpeter explained how capitalism has changed in such essential ways that it is evolving into a new kind of economic system. It is not entirely clear, however, what the nature of this new system will be. It will probably be centralist socialism, says Schumpeter, because the observable tendencies point in that direction, as does the logic of the historical situation. Yet, it could be guild socialism dominated by unions. He did not know and we do not know. It is even possible that the new social reorganisation could be one that is not socialist at all.

The Corona crisis today has made it possible to realise that the capitalist system has transformed human life and the entire planet into a commodity. The new ecological consciousness, which has risen with environmental destruction, is against the destructive and wasteful practices that exploit nature because of the attitudes and values associated with the capitalist worldview. Social solidarity and active participation in the society nourish the social economy. Social solidarity contains a meaning that ‘people in wealth give, people in need take’ style. This approach has shown to be an effective and common solidarity example both in Turkey also in the world during the Corona crisis. Social solidarity actually involves sharing resources equally or fairly. The corona epidemic has clearly demonstrated that an individualistic, self-interested approach of capitalism is not a life-saving strategy, but a socialist, solidarist approach, an approach that promotes the survival and health of the other is a life-saving strategy for all. A new cosmological and anthropological approach will be the formula of salvation, based on a social economy system in the post-corona world, which can see that life in nature, including humans, is protected through cooperation, mutual care and love. Capitalism will again come out of this crisis by adding billionaires to its billionaires, but different civilisations such as workers, producers and consumer cooperatives, solidarity networks, and street economy that grow in the heart of capitalism are the signs that we are progressing towards the evolution of the social economy.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the social economy discourses in four regions of Chile, characterized by their internal economic heterogeneity.

Using an intentional sample, semi-structured interviews were applied to 45 key informants from the public sector, universities, consultant enterprises, cooperatives and civil society organizations. Through a content analysis, thematic axes were identified that allowed to characterize and to recognize the narratives that key informants held about their initiatives, experiences or ventures.

The results allow us to understand the diversity of discourses and practices about alternative economies, being able to organize them from two axes: the tension between molar and molecular subjectivities; and the tension between reform and transformation (which refers to a transformative type of institutional and socio-material change). These axes propose an interpretative framework that integrates a diversity of distinctions and/or polarities and problematizes the homogeneity of formal economic discourse.

The discourses analyzed by this paper offers representativeness by saturation. It do not allow to ponder for sure the relative presence of each of these discourses in the field of economic diversity. The analysis of what type of actors sustain each type of discourse remains pending.

The high discourse heterogeneity makes it possible to foresee major difficulties in terms of political articulation and the visibility of various alternative economic experiences, initiatives or ventures as part of a social transformation movement.

Previous studies developed in Latin America about social and solidarity economy have been focused in objective dimensions as the volume of incomes, expenditures or jobs. This is the first study aimed at characterizing the subjective field of discourse held by different actors who recognize themselves as part of an alternative economy movement.