Diverse Approaches and Practices in Europe and Canada

Divided into three distinct sections, this chapter provides an overview of the different approaches to the social economy in the European Union and in Canada, which, with its strong European influences, has utilised and engaged with many European approaches to the social economy. Opening with a discussion of the development of the linkages between the economy and ideas of solidarity, the first section goes on to explore the contemporary development of the social economy within the European Union. The development of the social economy in Canada during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in Quebec, is examined in the second section. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of the way in which researchers have sought to portray the “new social economy” and the links between it and ideas of social entrepreneurship and social innovation.