Defining the Social Economy

The social economy listing on the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia has a section that talks about the difficulty in defining the term:

“Defining the limits of the social economy sector is made especially difficult by the ‘moving sands’ of the political and economic context. Consequently organizations may be ‘part in, part out’, ‘in this year, out the next’ or moving within the social economy’s various sub-sectors.

“There is no single right or wrong definition of the social economy. Many commentators and reports have consciously avoided trying to introduce a tight definition for fear of causing more problems than they solve.”

With that in mind, below are a number of social economy definitions to consider, including work done by the BC Social Economy Roundtable (BCSER) on the subject as well as the Wikipedia definition.


Defining the BC Social Economy

In 2005-2006, the BCSER undertook a project to enhance the understanding of social economy in BC. The BC Co-operative Association lead this initiative and in researching and writing the resulting definition paper, author John Restakis used the information and experiences collected in all of the BCSER’s foundational work. The paper, Defining the BC Social Economy - The BC Context, clarifies the historical development of this term, the economic and social principles that animate and define social economy organizations, the relevance of the social economy to the changing economic and political conditions of western societies, and the emerging role of the social economy within the contemporary realities of BC.

Click here to download the definition paper. *

* Please note that this paper was prepared for the BC Social Economy Roundtable, not by the BC Social Economy Roundtable and therefore the contents within should not be considered as endorsed in full by all participating organizations of the Roundtable. It is intended as a resource, not as the final word on the subject, and attempts to bring some clarity and context to the definition debate.


Podcast: Social Economy 101 – Defining the Social Economy
On October 26, 2006, the Canadian Social Economy Hub (CSEHub) hosted a one-hour telelearning session, with the topic being the presentation of two social economy definitions (from Ontario and Quebec) and a lively discussion on the topic. The podcast of this session is now available on the CSEHub website. Click here to download the podcast and to read more about the research.


Other Definitions To Consider
Thanks to the our friends at the CSEHub for compiling this useful group of definitions

Canadian Practitioner Definition
“The Social Economy consists of association-based economic initiatives founded on values of:

• Service to members of community rather than generating profits;
• Autonomous management (not government or market controlled);
• Democratic decision-making;
• Primacy of persons and work over capital;
• Based on principles of participation, empowerment.

“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

Wiki Definitions
Wikipedia, the popular (and growing) online encyclopedia has a growing article on the social economy. Click here for their interpretation of the social economy.

The Canadian Social Economy Hub (CSEHub) is also attempting to create a wiki definition for the social economy. Click here for their attempts so far.