What is the solidarity economy?
- The Solidarity Economy constitutes an alternative development framework
- The Solidarity Economy is grounded in practice and the following principles:
- solidarity, mutualism, and cooperation
- equity in all dimensions: race/ethnicity/nationality, class, gender, LGBTQ
- recognizes the primacy of social welfare over profits and the unfettered rule of the market.
- sustainability
- social and economic democracy
- pluralism and organic approach, allowing for different forms in different contexts, and open to continual change driven from the bottom up.
Examples of a Solidarity Economy:
- cooperatives – worker, producer, consumer, housing, financial
- local exchange systems, complementary currencies
- social enterprises & ‘high road’ locally owned businesses
- social investment funds
- worker controlled pension funds
- fair trade
- solidarity finance
- reclaim the commons movement
- land trusts
- co-housing
- eco-villages
- community supported agriculture
- green technology and ecological production
- participatory budgeting
- collective kitchens in Latin America
- tontines – collective health programs in Africa
- community-based services in France
- social cooperatives in Italy
- open source movement (e.g. Linux, wikipedia)
- unpaid care labor
For a longer introduction, see The Solidarity Economy: An Overview
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