Putting the solidarity economy on the map

Over the past 20 years, the term "solidarity economy" (SE) has come to refer to economic activities that seek to prioritize "people and planet," as opposed to private profit maximization over all else. The organizations, enterprises, and practices comprising the solidarity economy tend to be collectively and democratically run for the benefit of their members. While the activities associated with the solidarity economy do not preclude turning a profit (or generating surplus), nor do they necessarily require disengaging from market exchange, they do usually exhibit a substantial alignment with ethical principles of social equity and solidarity, environmental sustainability, and pluralist democracy. Put most simply, there is something we could characterize as non-capitalist about these organizations.1 The table in Figure 1 represents examples of typical SE organizational forms in the contexts of production, consumption, distribution and exchange, finance, and governance (see Figure 1).