3. The Social Economy in Quebec: Towards a New Political Economy

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The social economy in Quebec has been extensively documented by researchers, practitioners and government in Canada and internationally. This large corpus of literature includes numerous case studies, international comparisons and analytical reflections that situate the contemporary social economy both historically and in the history of ideas. Today, the challenges for theorizing the social economy have increased, both at the micro and macro levels to capture its organizational and institutional characteristics and the larger impact it is having on society. An ethnography of collectively owned enterprises in Quebec includes cooperatives and not for profit businesses, associations or organizations. This portrait is in contrast to the exclusive focus on cooperatives , mutuals and large associations that defined the social economy until recently and continues to limit its definition in many parts of the world that distinguish between the social and solidarity economy. In Quebec, the definitional debates were resolved sometime ago as social economy actors wished to place collective enterprises, whatever their juridical status, on an equal footing with the private and public sectors, as economic actors. While the cooperative movement is certainly recognized for its contribution to the economy internationally, the social economy, as it emerged in the 1990’s both in Quebec and elsewhere, was too often associated exclusively with service provision on the margins of the economy. Reducing the question to who is in and who is out of the social economy reinforced this perception and was a great challenge to overcome. Perhaps this is what distinguishes the Quebec experience from many others across Canada and internationally. By placing the social economy squarely into the center of economic activity, as a key and significant producer of goods and services under different organizational structures, it has assumed a level of legitimacy that is gradually moving it from the margins to the mainstream. But that is not all. As an economic actor, the social economy challenges the hypotheses underlying the market economy paradigm through its distinct and different reality. These economic outcomes are embedded in new socio-economic arrangements that produce wealth efficiently and effectively, while meeting social objectives. Today, we may go even further. The social economy is meeting societal objectives. The growing commitment to sustainability,