WP 97 |17 Strategies for Repositioning the Social and Solidarity Economy in the Consumption Patterns of the “Great Contraction”

Publication date: 13 November 2017
Publication categories: Working papers
Arguments: Ecosystems and networks, Innovation
Organizational types: Third sector organizations
Tags: social economy, commercio equo e solidale, consumatori, economia sociale, sharing economy, critical consumption

This paper aims to reformulate the “critical” status of consumption by looking for its traces within models that have become mainstream from alternative. In particular, we intend to analyze the effects generated by new value chains with respect to a more conscious and proactive user/consumer. In other words: are mainstream markets actually reshaping their production processes and governance arrangements to meet the needs, in a broadly “social” sense, of their target audiences? And what role do social and solidarity economy organizations that are traditionally recognized as pioneers in advocacy and product and process innovation play in this evolutionary framework?

x