Book Review: Care, Cooperation and Activism in Canada´s Northern Social Economy

By: Loring Philip

Much has been made in recent years of the transformative potential of the so-called “social economy:” a broad range of place-based activities, from artists cooperatives to local lending programs to self-help projects, all of which seek to create opportunities for job creation, economic regeneration, equity reduction, and enhancement of human well-being and environmental health (Amin et al. 2002). Arguably, the concept has been overtheorized in the academic literature (in a way similar to the early literature on adaptive management), with far more people extolling the virtues of the idea than are presenting practical examples of works in progress that we might learn from. Read more>>