As the article “The process of confluence of the Barcelona 2020 WSF of Transformative Economies begins” explains, the Barcelona WSF will be focused on transformative economies.
But what do we mean by “transformative economies”? If we want to answer from the SSE perspective, a quick look at socioeco.org is in order. A simple search in the search engine indicates that we can find about 700 documents that use the word “transformation” in different languages. To refine the search, we can use the keyword: New paradigm of transformation, which groups together those of interest to us and which we present here, used in the sense of social and political change. In the words of Ruben Suriñac, in his book Economias transformadoras de Barcelona, “the movements and phenomena of the transforming economy are all proposals for socio-economic reorganization that introduce a critique of the dominant economic model and formulate proposals for socio-economic change (both in theory and in practice) that, to varying degrees, attempt to transform this model or, at least, to prevent or mitigate its negative effects“. For Barcelona, he cites the movements of degrowth, the economy of the common good, the commons, the feminist and care economy, the social economy, the SSE. And the phenomena of the collaborative economy, community, responsible consumption, the circular economy, social entrepreneurship, social innovation and societal responsibility.
Here are some examples of documents that you can consult in 3 languages:
In Spanish
we find, in addition to the book mentioned above, the documents related to the Transformative Economies Forum itself and often to REAS and XES:
but also
Describe el concepto de ES desde dos perspectivas -europea y latinoamericana, con especial relevancia sobre el potencial transformador de ésta y su vinculación con los nuevos movimientos sociales.
Si las experiencias basadas en la ES lograran conectarse e intercooperar entre ellas dentro del modelo del consumo responsable, serian capaces de alterar las condiciones perversas del mercado actual.
In Latin America, the documents refer to social transformation, action for transformation, the paradigm of transformative change or as a form of resistance to capitalism.
Plantea que es el sentido de la transformación deseada, y desde esa definición amplia, qué política social o socioeconómica contribuyen a esa transformación.
Plantea la posibilidad de construir una economía no capitalista basada en relaciones y valores de justicia y solidaridad, que fuera –además- eficiente y económicamente racional.
Si no hay una ruptura epistemológica con el eurocentrismo, si no se da cuenta de la especificidad de las sociedades latinoamericanas, las posibilidades de construcción de la otra economía y de la otra sociedad son limitadas.
Plantea la necesidad de un nuevo modelo de desarrollo que posibilite el reconocimiento de las mujeres como sujeto politico y sus reivindicaciones.
and let’s not forget the slogan of the last WSF :
In English
we find the concept of “transformational or transformative change”, in particular used by UNRISD:
The report explores what transformative change really means for societies and individuals. It provides guidance on how to turn the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs into concrete actions.
The paper considers whether the uptake of the SSE agenda by governments can scale up and enable SSE in ways conducive to realizing the ‘transformational vision’ of the SDGs.
But also the following documents associated with the comons and degrowth :
Brisk overview of the commons, commoning, and their great potential in helping build a new society. becoming stewards of natural systems, and mutualizing the benefits of shared resources.
- Initiatives, Chains and Networking for Transformation , Degrowth in movement(s): Solidarity Economy (Germany) – 2017 – Dagmar Embshoff, Clarita Müller-Plantenberg,, Giuliana Giorgi How is the relation between the degrowth movement and other social movements and perspectives?
In French
the authors discuss the transformative potential of the collaborative economy, social innovations, degrowth, commons or the transformation of capitalism:
Il s’agit de rechercher dans quelle mesure l’innovation sociale est révélatrice d’un changement de paradigme dans l’organisation socio-économique de nos sociétés.
Ce colloque traite de la reconstruction sociale en cours à travers l’émergence d’expériences socialement innovantes visant à redéfinir la société sur des bases plus solidaires et équitables.
Les principes que recouvre la transition écologique concordent avec les valeurs défendues par l’économie sociale et solidaire : démocratie, citoyenneté, solidarité, plus-value sociale et/ou écologique et favorisent la diffusion de nouveaux modes de consommation, de production.
Les Pôles territoriaux de coopération économique visent à organiser la coopération en vue de produire de la richesse territoriale au profit des citoyens, tout en s’inscrivant dans les politiques publiques de développement.
Est-il possible de concevoir certaines des réalités de l’économie sociale et solidaire comme des modèles de communs ?
