Scaling Up: the Covergence of Social Economy and Sustainability

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

When citizens take collaborative action to meet the needs of theircommunity, they are participating in the social economy. Co-operatives,community-based social services, local non-profit organizations, andcharitable foundations are all examples of social economies thatemphasize mutual benefit rather than the accumulation of profit. Whilesuch groups often participate in market-based activities to achievetheir goals, they also pose an alternative to the capitalist marketeconomy. Contributors to Scaling Up investigated innovativesocial economies in British Columbia and Alberta and discovered thatachieving a social good through collective, grassroots enterpriseresulted in a sustainable way of satisfying human needs that was also,by extension, environmentally responsible. As these case studiesillustrate, organizations that are capable of harnessing the power of asocial economy generally demonstrate a commitment to three outcomes:greater social justice, financial self-sufficiency, and environmentalsustainability. Within the matrix of these three allied principles lienew strategic directions for the politics of sustainability.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Tables and Figures (p. ix)
• Acknowledgements (p. xi)
• Introduction: Social Economics and Sustainability (p. 1)
• 1 Towards Convergence: An Exploratory Framework (p. 7)
• 2 The Green Social Economy in British Columbia and Alberta (p. 27)
• 3 The Role of the Social Economy in Scaling Up Alternative Food Initiatives (p. 59)
• 4 Human Services and the Caring Society (p. 83)
• 5 Towards Sustainable Resource Management: Community Energy and Forestry in British Columbia and Alberta (p. 113)
• 6 Evolving Conceptions of the Social Economy: The Arts, Culture, and Tourism in Alert Bay (p. 147)
• 7 Non-Profit and Co-operative Organizations and the Provision of Social Housing (p. 169)
• 8 Land Tenure Innovations for Sustainable Communities (p. 193)
• 9 Sustaining Social Democracy Through Heritage-Building Conservation (p. 221)
• 10 Strong Institutions, Weak Strategies: Credit Unions and the Rural Social Economy (p. 247)
• Conclusion "Social Economizing" Sustainability (p. 269)
• List of Contributors (p. 297)