Social and solidarity economy: new reference systems to temper the crisis.

Summary Our contemporary societies are affected by major social, economic and environmental tensions. The succession of financial and ecological crises, the excesses of capitalism, the growing financialization of human activities and the globalization of inequalities require the construction of new economic reference points for thinking about the public policies of tomorrow. In this context, while past recipes have shown their limits, it seems relevant to question the role that a more social and solidarity-based economy could play. What changes and new skills could we imagine in this changing socio-economic context? How could we respond differently to needs and promote alternative forms of action to the logic of accumulation? By inviting researchers in the humanities and social sciences to consider these questions and by proposing that they reflect on new ways of understanding the world, in order to act more effectively, this book seeks to move away from the conventional and repetitive solutions often suggested by experts close to the "dominant" economic science. In the first part, it takes stimulating paths to "rethink" the economy. The questions of measuring wealth, of trust in economic relations and of the management of common goods are thus addressed. Then, concrete avenues for renewing the foundations of the social state are considered. New spaces of transformation that the social and solidarity economy seems to be able to develop are then outlined.