Social Economy and Civil Society

Abstract

Economic restructuring in the developed economies over the past decades has led to the development and emergence of the service sector, significantly overshadowing agriculture and industry across Western Europe, resulting in a long-term and relatively wide-ranging exclusion of workers from the labour market. The interrelated economic and social changes have not only caused long-term unemployment, but also significant social disadvantages that have led to increased wealth and income disparities between rich and poor social groups.
In addition to the declining working volume, it has also been observed that a limited number of existing jobs are available for workers whose number has been gradually increasing since the second half of the 1970s. In recent decades the willingness of women to work has increased, retirement age has been raised, the general level of highest educational attainment has become higher, and working time has decreased, which together resulted in the crisis of full employment and 'work-based society' in Europe in the 1980s. The economic system called "imperfect capitalism" reflected the negative features of the functioning of the globalized capitalist economy that led to the development of long-term unemployment. Thus, unemployment is the direct consequence of the existing formal economy. Researchers and policy-makers have realized that the reintegration of marginalized groups into the labour market is essentially necessary for the society and the economy.
In connection with these processes, in the early 1980s, the concept of social economy has been accepted at the government level in France on the basis of the recognition that alternative methods and measures need be applied to decrease the negative economic and social effects of long-term unemployment.
As for its set of goals, activities and actors, social / solidarity economy can be primarily regarded as a combination of local social and economic initiatives that aim to support the labour market and social integration of individuals and groups suffering from various disadvantages, by means of labour market and social tools and methods.
In everyday practice, the social / solidarity economy is based on the activities of civil / non-profit organizations that in most of the cases are carrying out social and employment projects for people with social and labour market disadvantages. These organizations provide labour market services and also participate in social services. The actors of social / solidarity economy represent social and economic integration and sustainability in their activities as opposed to profit generation and profit maximization. Their participation in certain activities, income and employment potential, as well as their efforts to achieve sustainability in the social, economic and environmental sense are becoming increasingly important.