Social economy 2025. Evidence, challenges and trajectories for Italy
The volume Economia sociale 2025. Evidenze, sfide e traiettorie per l’Italia (Social Economy 2025: Evidence, Challenges and Trajectories for Italy), edited by Gianluca Salvatori and Chiara Carini, is the result of a collaborative effort that offers an in-depth and up-to-date analysis of the role of the social economy in the Italian and European context, highlighting its dimensions, evolutionary dynamics and strategic potential for the country’s development.
Starting from the framework of European and national policies – in particular the European Action Plan for the Social Economy and the nascent National Action Plan – the volume reconstructs the path of progressive institutional recognition of the social economy as an ecosystem capable of connecting economic growth, social cohesion and environmental sustainability. In this perspective, the social economy emerges not as a residual or compensatory sphere, but as a structural component of the transition processes currently underway.
Through the work of EURICSE’s Social Economy Observatory, the volume offers an interpretation based on statistical evidence and qualitative analysis, providing a mapping of the organisations that make up the sector, their distinctive characteristics and the main factors that favour or hinder their development.
Contents
The first part is dedicated to the European and national context.
- Sara de Heusch (SOCIAL ECONOMY EUROPE) analyses the evolution of European policies for the social economy, with particular attention to the European Social Economy Action Plan and the role of the sector in the green and digital transitions.
- Gianluca Salvatori (EURICSE) examines the Italian Social Economy Action Plan in depth, interpreting it as a response to the “public action deficit” and as an attempt to overcome policy fragmentation, restoring the social economy’s strategic role in the country’s development.
- Chiara Carini (EURICSE), Simel Esim and Hyungsik Eum (OIL) focus on the role of statistics, highlighting the importance of measurement in making the real weight of the social economy visible and supporting public decisions based on reliable and comparable data.
The second part explores two central themes.
Work in the social economy
- Chiara Carini (EURICSE) and Ermanno Tortia (University of Trento) analyse the employment characteristics of the sector, highlighting its potential and critical issues in terms of job quality and sustainability.
- Sabrina Stoppiello, Stefania Della Queva and Manuela Nicosia (ISTAT) explore the role of volunteering as a fundamental civic infrastructure for participation, social cohesion and the ability to respond to collective needs.
- Gianfranco Marocchi (Impresa Sociale) examines the contribution of the social economy to labour integration policies and the inclusion of the most vulnerable people.
Social economy and territories
- Sara Depedri, Michele Mazzetti and Giacomo Pisani (EURICSE) analyse the contribution of the social economy to supporting health, highlighting the role of social economy organisations in reorganising local social and health care based on the principles of integration, proximity and participation.
- Jacopo Sforzi, Giulia Galera, Caterina Ottobrini and Giulia Tallarini (EURICSE) focus on the contribution to local development, with particular attention to rural areas and the capacity of territories to activate innovative responses.
- Stefano Consiglio (Fondazione Con il Sud – University of Naples Federico II) explores the role of the social economy in the processes of social and demographic regeneration in Southern Italy.
The volume concludes with a contribution by Lorenzo Sacconi (University of Milan), who places the social economy within the new economic analysis of law, highlighting its ability to generate collective value through organisational models based on participation, reinvestment of profits and the centrality of people.
