This places human beings as the first and last consideration in economic activities and is an alternative approach to the market economy. It relates to organizations, cooperatives, associations, or companies that aim to produce goods, services, and knowledge for economic purposes while simultaneously focusing on social implications and fostering solidarity.
Published in Chapter:
The Social and Solidarity Economics, Public Policies, and Non-Monetary Economic Practices: The Case of Associative Firms in Loja, Ecuador
Arturo Luque González (Universidad Tecnica de Manabí, Ecuador & Universidad del Rosario, Ecuador), Aitor Bengoetxea Alkorta (Universidad del País Vasco, Spain & Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Spain), and Jaime Leonidas Ordóñez Salcedo (Universidad del País Vasco, Spain & Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Spain)
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 25
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-7689-2.ch012
Abstract
The prevailing economic and social model contains great inequalities. Against this backdrop, the Republic of Ecuador, in its constitution of 2008, included recognizing ancestral practices at an economic and social level and granting special protection to “mother earth” or Pachamama based on the common element of solidarity between ecosystems and human beings. Despite this, continuous growth processes have blunted some of the tools and institutions created in Ecuador to redress poverty and rebalance existing economic and regulatory abuses. To analyze this situation, a series of group interviews were carried out in two communities of Loja (Ecuador) to analyze the scope and continuity of current ancestral practices and the effectiveness of processes established in the social economy. The analysis shows the lack of continuity of these practices and their associated benefits for people and communities with limited resources.