The solidarity economy beyond the issue of labor

Abstract

Abstract In this essay, we discuss the limitations of the orthodox approach of labor regarding solidarity economy, adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO), and by the classical view of the sociology of work. Initially, we show that solidarity economy has been analyzed by the traditional sociology of work, both in Brazil and France, as an illusion of which participants are victims. ILO, although adopting lately a contrasting perspective, is restricted to a conception of decent work in solidarity economy that also keeps a common reference framework with the conservative perspective of the sociology of work. In the second part, we present two practices that show that solidarity economy cannot be reduced to the economic dimension of the production mode and labor relations, and that there is an inherent emancipatory political dimension - the cases of Conjunto Palmeiras (Brazil) and the Régies de quartier movement (France). From these cases, in the third section we identify the theoretical frameworks that not only understand the modes of work implementation in solidarity economy, but allow a wider integration of solidarity economy multiple dimensions. Therefore, we present three theoretical approaches: the Epistemologies of the South, the approach of substantive economic action, and the deliberative democracy perspective. At the end, we open up the reflection on the direction in which the sociology of work and the ILO can develop and reconfigure their reference approaches to work in an expanded, substantive and heterodox understanding of the solidarity economy.