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[Review of:] Scaling up: The convergence of social economy and sustainability
SAHAKIAN, Marlyne
SAHAKIAN, Marlyne. [Review of:] Scaling up: The convergence of social economy and sustainability. Community Development Journal , 2017, vol. 53, no. 2, p. 398–405
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Book reviews
Scaling Up: The Convergence of Social Economy and Sustainability
Mike Grismondi, Sean Connelly, Mary Beckie, Sean Markey, and
Mark Roseland (Eds), Athabasca University, AU Press, Edmonton, Canada, 2016, 301 pages, ISBN 978 1 77199 021 9 (Pb), $34.95(CDN)
While social and environmental dimensions are clearly included in com- mon definitions of sustainability, such as the oft-quote Brundtland Report (WCED, 1987), research and action on environmental and social sustain- ability have not always converged. The roots of the social economy can be found in nineteenth century Europe, whilst environmental awareness is more recent: Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring (1962) is often credited with ushering in the environmental movement, with Nicolas Georgsecu- Roegen’s work (1971) laying the foundation for ecological economics.
While the 1st Earth Summit in 1992 and the 1st World Social Forum in 2001 both took place in Brazil (Rio and Porto Alegre, respectively), these international events are milestones in two distinct movements that both tout‘sustainability’, but have a different (albeit complementary) focus: the former, more concerned with people and planet, and the latter aiming towards a more inclusive world and economy. While strong environmental and social values are needed towards sustainable transitions, too much emphasis has been placed in the past on a more diluted reading of sustain- ability: the dominant economic model prevails, involving competitive mar- ket mechanisms and a primacy of profit over people and planet.
Researchers in this field have therefore called for more research and action in relation to ‘strong sustainability’, rather than efforts to promote effi- ciency and green consumerism that have been prevalent to date (Fuchs and Lorek, 2005).
Against this backdrop,Scaling Up: The Convergence of Social Economy and Sustainability brings to the foreground existing initiatives by civil society organisations– including cooperatives, not-for-profits and charitable foun- dations–towards‘strong’sustainability, based on human need satisfaction through democratic processes and within planetary boundaries. The
convergence of ecological, economic and social considerations, while tricky in theory, has proven in practice to be interconnected when viewed through the prism of the social economy – with its emphasis on forms of interdependence and complementary relations between people, engaged in democratic processes and institutions. With a focus on two western pro- vinces in Canada, British Columbia and Alberta, the edited book show- cases a series of initiatives within the social economy that touch on various aspects of everyday life – from local credit unions, to alternative food initiatives, community-owned energy generation and social housing – demonstrating how one could live and prosper in the social economy today, but also the challenges involved. Rather than provide a summary of the book, I focus on two challenges in this review: the question of how the social economy relates to the dominant market economy and to the State, and the question of scale and challenges involved with scaling up ‘local’
innovations.
To begin with the first point, the two first chapters set the stage and give substance to what the social economy looks like in British Columbia and Alberta. In Chapter 1, the distinction between weak and strong sustainabil- ity is used as a red thread towards defining the social economy at the con- vergence of societal wellbeing and environmental promotion. The second chapter is the result of a survey on the social economy in British Columbia and Alberta (BALTA, BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance) involving 478 organisations active in this field. While the data is quite thor- ough and impressive – on the number of people employed and different service sectors within the social economy, for example – it would have been interesting for a reader to understand how the social economy com- pares to the dominant market economy in this context: for example, by spe- cifying the percentage of jobs tied to the social economy and in relation to the economy overall. In Chapter 4, regarding human services and the car- ing sector, the significance of the accelerated individuation of society and prevalence of market-based solutions is highlighted as one of the main challenges: a call is made for a more supportive role from the State. The positive effects of State subsidies are suggested in Chapter 2 (p. 55), as potentially leading to ‘scaling out’ opportunities for addressing environ- mental problems. A question remains to be addressed: how could the social economy evolve from a third sector, to potentially transforming the economy overall – including the market economy, and redistribution through the State? The interface with the market economy and State could be teased out of the different case studies to make this point.
Regarding the‘local’, the edited book puts forward the claim that greater innovations towards sustainability can take place and be upheld over the long term if they are locally defined, through the social economy. This Book reviews 399
emphasis on the local would merit a nuance, as the local can also represent a‘trap’ –not all local initiatives are inherently good, not all local processes are necessarily democratic and just (Born and Purcell, 2006). Perhaps, the
‘local’ is a more manageable scale for democratic and participative work, yet the book has the ambition of offering insights into how innovations in one place could be diffused and adapted to other contexts, from local to regional for example, but also applied to new geographical locations or new sectors. Some contributors tackle these questions directly in their chapters, while others are less rigorous in describing how such change might come about. More emphasis could have been placed on the chal- lenges of‘scaling up and out’, particularly in relation to the‘local trap’: for example, are there negative aspects of starting local? If there are negative effects of scaling up, as in one example of a local food initiative in Chapter 3, is it always necessary to consider scaling up as a desired part of the process? The question of scale seems to be particularly relevant in the energy sector, ‘when power is developed for international trade rather than for efficient use and reduced demand’(p. 139), begging the question:
does consumption and production have to be locally oriented to be sustain- able, as defined in this book? This relates to the discussion above: the role of the State (and its citizens) in promoting a more socially just and environ- mentally sound economy.
To conclude, ‘Scaling Up’ is a great read for researchers, practitioners and policy-makers interested in how the social economy is transforming communities today, and what opportunities this holds for the future. The examples detailed in this book demonstrate that the social economy can
‘serve to reinforce the notion that sustainability is a process and not a fixed outcome’(p. 55). In that process, a value system based on reciprocity, deep democracy, and participative community-owned solutions certainly seems like a step in the right direction – as proposed by the convergence of the social economy with environmental sustainability principles.
References
Born, B. and Purcell, M. (2006) Avoiding the local trap: scale and food systems in planning research,Journal of Planning Education and Research,26(2), 195–207.
Carson, R. (1962)Silent Spring, Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press, Boston, Cambridge.
Fuchs, D. A. and Lorek, S. (2005) Sustainable consumption governance: a history of promises and failures,Journal of Consumer Policy,28(3), 261–288.
Georgescu-Roegen, N. (1971)The Entropy Law and the EconomicProcess, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
WCED (1987)Our Common Future, The World Commission on Environment and Development, New York, Oxford.
Marlyne Sahakian
Sociology Department, University of Geneva,
Uni Mail campus, 40 Boulevard du Pont-d’Arve, 1204, Geneva, Switzerland;
email:marlyne.sahakian@unige.ch doi:10.1093/cdj/bsx045
Advance Access Publication 21 September 2017
Sustainability and the Political Economy of Welfare
Max Koch and Oksana Mont (Eds), London: Routledge, 2016, 219 pages, ISBN-10: 1138925284, ISBN-13: 978-1138925281
In their introduction to this groundbreaking and important collection, the editors, both professors in Lund University, Sweden, identify the two major challenges facing welfare systems. These are western production and con- sumption patterns that are not generalizable to the rest of the world, and the fact that our existing global society is exceeding the Earth’s carrying capacity on at least three planetary boundaries–climate change, the nitro- gen cycle and biodiversity loss. This recognition sets the agenda for the book, examining what would be required to make our welfare systems eco- logically sustainable. The challenge is enormous. As they write:‘Biophysical conditions and global thresholds delineate the room for manoeuvre within which national and local economies and societies can evolve and within which welfare beyond basic human needs can be provided’(5).
The book is neatly divided into three sections, each with four chapters– perspectives, policies and emerging practices of sustainable welfare.
Inevitably, major new challenges are being addressed, and great credit is due to the wide range of contributors that the task is undertaken with rig- our and without flinching from the enormity of the transformations required.
Part I on perspectives is perhaps the richest section in its imaginative breath. In Chapter 1, Eric Brandstedt and Maria Emmelin examine the con- cept of sustainable welfare, challenging the individualism of mainstream concepts of welfare and widening the scope to include global and interge- nerational impacts. How can present-day needs be satisfied without com- promising those of future generations and how can we do this while forfeiting carbon-based consumption? Answering these key questions Book reviews 401
