Nogales-Muriel, R., & Nyssens, M. (2021). Research to Build Resilient Social Economy Ecosystems in Europe. Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Abstract
Our current economic, ecological, and social tensions attest to the urgency of fundamentally transitioning the way in which we organize economic activity and its relationship to society. Through a variety of initiatives in many different sectors of activity—work integration, social finance, short supply chains, recycling, personal services, collaborative economy, culture, and many others—citizens, private sector actors, and public officials are discovering new opportunities to promote societal goals. But these initiatives not only open up new activities that create jobs; through their values, they inspire trust among citizens and public authorities, contribute to the institutional plurality of our economic systems, and open the door to citizen involvement, participation, and empowerment. And although the social and ecological transition we need cannot fully take place without deep systemic transformations at the macro level, initiatives like these contribute to the evolution of production processes and consumption patterns.