May 10, 2016

Beyond social economy: distinctive characteristics of socio-ecological

production and exchange initiatives Blanca Miedes Ugarte

Celia Sánchez lópezmiedes@uhu.es

Summary• About this work•Multidisciplinary focus: the ”Doughnut" problem• SE initiatives as a new concept of innovation•Main features of SE initiatives that distinguish them from both the capitalist economy and the various forms of conventional social economy.• Conclusions

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Creative (creativa) and Useful (útil) Ecónomy

FAIR, respectful TO PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

03/05/2023 3

Action-Research project developed by a group of students from the course of Expert of Solidarity Economy and social entrepreneurship of the UHU in collaboration with the C3IT.

Participatory mapping

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The ”Doughnut" problemKate Raworth

Economic growth (GDP increase) is not the real problem, but scarcity, degradation and inequality

Multidimensionalité

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9 planetary boundaries Johan Rockström

and 28 other scientists published

in the journal "Nature"(2009)

Source: Kate Raworth

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11 social priorities Rio +20 summit:water, food, health, energy, employment, voice (democracy), resilience, education, economic income, gender equality, equality social.

Source: Kate Raworth

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How to keep our place in the safe and

just area?

Kate Raworth

A lot of decisions to take in all scales!

• Production (useful, creative, circular economy)• Energy (removable, clean)• Time policies (paid-unpaid work distribution, life cycle

approach)• Income policies (wages, basic income)• Tax reforms (against evasion and fraud)• Financial reforms (limits)• Territorial model (internal & external cohesion)

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A new concept of innovation• Current people, in current places, facing common problems (food, energy, transport, business, employment...).

• social currencies, time banks, social-urban gardens, co-working spaces , ethical finance, consumer cooperatives for ecological and fair trade, innovative cultural activities, new cooperatives for the production of renewable energy ... •Most of them are gathered in short circuits integrating in the best possible way social markets (Hernandez, 2012).Film by Cyril Dion

People solutions to “Doughnut” problems

A framework for evaluate/ making decisions together…

Source: Kate Raworth

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What are main features of SE initiatives that distinguish them from both the capitalist economy and the various forms of conventional social

economy?

Characteristics SE inititatives• The principle of social justice joins

the principle of environmental justice.• Life styles and values are mayor

concerns.• Consciousness of place arises.• Design and execution in the very

same process: ”prosumers”, networking.• Knowledge (ICT) as a factor of

economic and political empowerment.

Life stiles and values

•SE initiatives arise in an attempt to answer the question how to make a living? in a broader framework of the old question about how to live?

@Norismo

Life stiles and values

•External changes to be enough disruptive should be guided by an internal change in the systems of beliefs, preferences and worldviews informing lifestyles (Crompton & Kasser, 2009; Rokeach, 1973; Schwartz, 1992; Emmons, 1989). @Norismo

“Place” as the space in which people resolve their needs, coexist, co-construct their identity, share projects and design a common future.

Getting back to the "consciousness of place"

Place, understood as a collective heritage guaranteeing biological and social reproduction of the community

(Alberto Magnaghi, 2010)

Multiscale networks for socioecological transition

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• Towns in transition (Hopkins, 2011)• Degrowth Networks (Fournier,

2008)• “Slow” movements (Geof, 2008)• Other….

Local cosmopolitism

DIVERSITY as key factor: local markets, complementary alternative production, consumption, financial, cultural circuits...

Jordi García: Picture taken at the seminar Commons, FUHEM-ecosocial, 17/11/12

Avoiding any kind of ”monoculture” fostering local resilience.

ComplementarityComplexity (fuzzy borders)Resilience

Good news: MAKING and SHARINGdevelop intelligence!

MeaningConnectionLearning

Design and execution in the same process

How we think we think => How we believe societies should decided

Hierarchy (Brain gives orders

to the rest of the body)

Neural network(The whole body

“thinks”)

Neurosciences=>

A new brain metaphor

"Smart cities” need intelligent citizenship

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Source: http://www.qtorb.com

Building a new meaning meaning of “togetherness”

•Spaces:• For interaction.• For tools.• For training.

Knowledge= Empowerment

Political empowerment@Norismo

• Perceived self-efficacy: people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. • It determine how people feel,

think, motivate themselves and behave (Bandura, 1998).

Main source of empowerment:Sense of self-efficacy

Conclusion• Big transformative potential.• But still has a limited scope and

deficient organizational and technological operating modes. • One of main challenges knowledge

institutions face in the coming decades is to support the development of these new socio-ecological activities:• Legal, economic, social and political

framework (valorisation, impact assessment)

• Tools (technological, organizational, emotional)

• Core concerns of the territorial intelligence projects.

May 10, 2016

Beyond social economy: distinctive characteristics of socio-ecological

production and exchange initiatives Blanca Miedes Ugarte

Celia Sánchez lópezmiedes@uhu.es