The social and solidarity economy in Argentina and the UK: convergence from opposite directions

Author(s):  
Molly Scott Cato ◽  
Paola Raffaelli

This chapter explores the commonalities and differences in the history of the development of the social and solidarity economy in the UK and Argentina. It examines how the need for social security and welfare, unmet by political agency, was resolved through mutual organisation in both societies. It contrasts the absorption of welfare provision into the state in the UK with experiences in Argentina where it became part of an independent social and solidarity economy (SSE) with significant legislative underpinning and political support, particularly from the Peronist Party. In the final stage of comparison, the unpicking of the welfare state in the UK has led to an increased need for voluntary welfare provision, now branded as the Big Society. Moreover, in Argentina also an attempt to encourage co-operative entrepreneurism took place. As well as providing an account of the social function of the SSE, the chapter explores how the need to make a rapid transition to sustainability works alongside the need for social justice to suggest a reciprocal relationship between the development of the SSE in these two societies in the global North and South.

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Harvie

Abstract The United Kingdom is at the forefront of a global movement to establish a social-investment market. At the heart of social investment we find finance – and financialisation. Specifically, we find: a financial market (the social-investment market); a series of financial institutions (Big Society Capital, for example); a financial instrument (the social-impact bond); and a financial practice (social investing). Focusing on the UK, given its pioneering role, this paper first provides a brief history of social investment, tracing its development from the politics of the ‘Third Way’ to the social-impact bond. It then maps the terrain of the social-investment market, explaining the main institutions and actors, and the social-impact bond. Finally, it proposes a framework for analysing the disciplinary logics of finance, which it uses to understand the promise or threat (depending on one’s perspective) of social investment and the social-investment market.


While debt has the capacity to sustain social relations by joining together the two parties of a debt relation, it also contains the risk of deteriorating into domination and bargaining. Throughout history, different understandings of debt have therefore gravitated between reciprocity and domination, making it a key concept for understanding the dynamics of both social cohesion and fragmentation. The book considers the social, spatial and temporal meanings of this ambiguity and relates them to contemporary debates over debts between North and South in Europe, which in turn are embedded in a longer global history of North-South relations. The individual chapters discuss how debts incurred in the past are mobilised in political debates in the present. This dynamic is highlighted with regard to regional and global North-South relations. An essential feature in debates on this topic is the difficult question of retribution and possible ways of “paying” – a term that is etymologically connected to “pacification” – for past injustice. Against this backdrop, the book combines a discussion of the multi-layered European and global North-South divide with an effort to retrieve alternatives to the dominant and divisive uses of debt for staking out claims against someone or something. Discovering new and forgotten ways of thinking about debt and North-South relations, the chapters are divided into four sections that focus on 1) debt and social theory, 2) Greece and Germany as Europe’s South and North, 3) the ‘South’ between the local, the regional and the global, and 4) debt and the politics of history.


Author(s):  
Peter North

Building on the diverse economies perspective of JK Gibson-Graham, this chapter discusses how conceptions of just and sustainable economies in the context of the Anthropocene can be generated and, more importantly, performed through social and solidarity economies in the global North. It reviews concepts of the SSE in the global North, and discusses the extent that the UK social economy sector has been tamed and neoliberalised as more antagonistic conceptions of co-operative and grassroots economies created by green and socialist activists in the 1970s and 1980s have been transformed into neoliberal conceptions of social enterprise, with an inbuilt assumption that the private sector is more effective than the public. It discusses how in conditions of austerity social enterprise can legitimate the abandonment of socially excluded communities, and that to counter this, the social economy sector in the UK should develop more antagonistic perspectives, learning from Latin Americans. Finally, it discusses the contribution of Transition Initiatives in rekindling conceptions of grassroots sustainable economies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 1270-1293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Mark Linsley ◽  
Alexander Linsley ◽  
Matthias Beck ◽  
Simon Mollan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose Neo-Durkheimian institutional theory, developed by the Durkheimian institutional theory, as developed by anthropologist Mary Douglas, as a suitable theory base for undertaking cross-cultural accounting research. The social theory provides a structure for examining within-country and cross-country actions and behaviours of different groups and communities. It avoids associating nations and cultures, instead contending any nation will comprise four different solidarities engaging in constant dialogues. Further, it is a dynamic theory able to take account of cultural change. Design/methodology/approach The paper establishes a case for using neo-Durkheimian institutional theory in cross-cultural accounting research by specifying the key components of the theory and addressing common criticisms. To illustrate how the theory might be utilised in the domain of accounting and finance research, a comparative interpretation of the different experiences of financialization in Germany and the UK is provided drawing on Douglas’s grid-group schema. Findings Neo-Durkheimian institutional theory is deemed sufficiently capable of interpreting the behaviours of different social groups and is not open to the same criticisms as Hofstede’s work. Differences in Douglasian cultural dialogues in the post-1945 history of Germany and the UK provide an explanation of the variations in the comparative experiences of financialization. Originality/value Neo-Durkheimian institutional theory has been used in a wide range of contexts; however, it has been little used in the context of accounting research. The adoption of the theory in future accounting research can redress a Hofstedian-bias in accounting research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 272-284
Author(s):  
Jennifer E Simpson ◽  
Gary Clapton

This article charts the UK history of contact in fostering and adoption as it relates to looked after children and their birth relatives. It builds on a recent publication in this journal by one of the authors based on her research on the use of social media by children in care. Here we look at previous practices relating to the question of whether or not contact ought to be ‘allowed’ in which words such as ‘access’ were used, betokening the child as object. We also come up to date with reference to contemporary efforts to recast contact as ‘family time’ that is significant in the child’s continuation of understanding of self. Other words in the lexicon are problematised, including ‘contact’ itself. Attention is also devoted to the social work profession's conception and management of contact. We argue that a critical history of contact reveals the various ways that formal and informal power operates to both regulate and discipline those involved, most centrally the child and birth family members. Drawing upon emerging research relating to social media and contact, the article concludes with a discussion of how young people’s access to, and use of, social media has altered, how contact is managed and ‘policed’, and how this has shifted the balance of power in contact towards greater egalitarianism.


Author(s):  
Svitlana Surgova ◽  
Olena Faichuk

The historical aspect of the development of state social policy of social protection of children in Europe from the 17th to 21th centuries is considered in the article. The purpose of the article is to highlight the peculiarities of the historical development of the state policy of social protection of children in European countries of the 17th to 21th centuries and learning from the experience of social protection of children in the context of Ukraine's European integration. The regulatory framework of the system of social protection of children in Ukraine has been studied. The statistic on different categories of children in need of social protection by the state is analyzed. The structure of the system of social protection of children in Ukraine is considered. The research methodology is based on the principle of priority of universal human values. As part of the tools of the proposed work the theoretical one is the analysis and generalization of scientific sources, educational and methodological publications on the theme and synthesis, as well as comparison and generalization of data. Based on the analysis of materials on the peculiarities of social protection in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden and Norway, it was determined that the social protection of children in Europe is characterized by assistance to them in providing conditions for the realization of their rights and freedoms. Equally important is the setting up of various charitable institutions, schools, penal colonies that help children change, as well as the emergence of social services that protect the rights and interests of children. The authors suggest that in the course of the studying the history of the issue of state policy of children’s social protection, there is an opportunity for analogies, the implementation of already proven steps on the path of democratization of national social protection policy. The researchers see the prospects for further research in the study of global innovative forms of social protection and support for at-risk children.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-310
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Alexandris Polomarkakis

This article considers the impact of Brexit on the future of Social Europe. Through recourse to key moments in the history of European social integration, where Britain more often than not vehemently opposed any coming together, its role as an important veto player in EU social policy-making is established. With the UK set to leave the Union, the option for further social integration is no longer inconceivable. It is featured as one of the possible scenarios in the Reflection Paper on the Social Dimension of Europe, and recent developments, such as the European Pillar of Social Rights, together with its accompanying initiatives, appear to lay the groundwork towards that. The article concludes that, although the realisation of Social Europe is more likely post-Brexit, there are other Member States willing to take over the UK’s role and act as veto players on their own terms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-540
Author(s):  
Barbara Henderson

Abstract Although the UK has a centuries-old history of subversive singing, since the election of a Conservative-led government in 2010 and imposition of austerity-based economic and social policies, the number of choirs with a political philosophy and mission has grown. The website CampaignChoirs lists around thirty political choirs committed to a left-wing, green or anarchist agenda, which is reflected in the music and related actions. This paper takes as its case study the Leeds-based Commoners Choir and considers how its musical decisions enable it to communicate protest politics. Using critical discourse analysis, this study adds to the dialogue on musical discourse by focusing on the speech acts contained within the lyrics; the social impact of the Commoners’ performances; and the use of dialect to root the works within a distinctly northern culture. It concludes that careful consideration of discourse can demonstrate a more measurable authenticity in an artistic act of protest.


2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny M Lewis

Partnerships have become a widespread tool for coordinating the disconnected components of primary health care. They are based on network modes of governing which are seen as less susceptible to power disparities and as being more democratic than hierarchies, and more inclusive and egalitarian than markets. This paper examines whether government mandated partnerships, which mix network characteristics with aspects of hierarchies and markets, can contribute to ameliorating the effects of inequities and their impacts on health. Partnerships have benefits but are complicated and time consuming. They have theoretical appeal in addressing health problems which require solutions that reach beyond traditional health boundaries to be more interconnected and inclusive. Evaluations of partnerships in the UK indicate their substantial coordination benefits. But reducing the impact of inequities also requires shifting to a conception of health that emphasises the social and environmental context. This is the case even where partnerships have political support and health inequalities are on the agenda. Partnerships are not a quick fix, but they are a necessary component of tackling the impacts of inequities on health. They create possibilities for reducing the impacts of inequities on health by providing a platform on which additional measures can be built.


Author(s):  
Terry Liddell

This chapter focuses on the history of adult education in the United States, but the implication is that the formation of the field is dependent upon the social, economic, and political needs, resources, and priorities of a given time and place. This is true anywhere in the world as was demonstrated in modern history such as the role of adult education in the post- World War II reconstruction in Europe and Japan, or more recently, in Southern Africa with the dramatic changes after the fall of apartheid (officially in South Africa and symbolically in other countries). For example, in the past ten years, universities in Southern African countries have consolidated Departments of Adult Education with Departments of Community Development in recognition of the symbiotic and reciprocal relationship between the two fields of study during this time of reconstruction of inclusive participatory democracy. The role of various institutions and the influence on the direction and resources for adult education are explored. The role of change and acculturation is also visited.


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