Sustainable Community Movement Organizations

What timing! Existing political and economic institutions are under great pressure, marked by crises of disaffection and incapacity. Building on strong empirical foundations, this imaginative and often audacious volume searches for alternatives with identifiable hallmarks -- social organization from below, fresh forms of political participation, and the flexibility of networks. The moment demands attention to these analyses and initiatives. -- Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History at Columbia University, USA This volume is a welcome and important collection of thought-provoking articles on the vital role that 'alternative' and diverse economies play in creating space and hope. The collection weaves together rigorous theory and a rich variety of detailed case studies; together they tell a story of socio-economic and environmental justice that extends our understanding of organizational forms and values. The book is an empirically grounded call for us to look way beyond capitalism to create a better present and future. -- Ann Armstrong, Director of Social Enterprise Initiative, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Canada The growing critique of the current and insufficient model of development has materialized in a number of local self-organized initiatives that inter-connect ecology, economy, and culture with the aim to promote well-being. This book helps us to understand concrete examples in which practices of consumption and production have been re-embedded in a sustainable and solidarity approach, as an alternative to the (un)limitations of the liberal market economy institutions. Most importantly it stimulates the reader to immerse in collective efforts that point towards possible future(s). -- Carlos Alberto Cioce Sampaio and Ana Paula Debastiani, Researchers of the Ecosocioeconomy Core, Universidade Federal do Parana (UFPR), Brazil This book synthesizes a wide range of literature on sustainability, social-economics, and political sociology, as it clarifies new forms of life. It specifically focuses on practices of commoning and renewed social equity in urban and interurban meshworks of a solidarity economy, in the Global North and the Global South. Presented in a compact package of grounded case studies, this anthology responds in an accessible and engaging approach to the question, 'How can we democratize economies?' -- Jose-Manuel Martinez Sierra, Jean Monnet ad personam Professor European Law and Government, Harvard University, USA This volume delivers an innovative approach to the sociology of social movements through a collection of transnational analyses of Sustainable Community Movement Organisations (SCMOs). The editors' joint expertise has brought together scholars who explore such grassroots movements across different issues and geographies. Through a rich theoretical framework and situated case studies, the volume illuminates solidarity initiatives who mobilise on shared social and environmental justice concerns to struggle for alternative knowledge and alternative economies. -- Eleftheria Lekakis, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications, School of Media, Film and Music, University of Sussex, UK What timing! Existing political and economic institutions are under great pressure, marked by crises of disaffection and incapacity. Building on strong empirical foundations, this imaginative and often audacious volume searches for alternatives with identifiable hallmarks -- social organization from below, fresh forms of political participation, and the flexibility of networks. The moment demands attention to these analyses and initiatives. -- Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History at Columbia University, USA This volume is a welcome and important collection of thought-provoking articles on the vital role that 'alternative' and diverse economies play in creating space and hope. The collection weaves together rigorous theory and a rich variety of detailed case studies; together they tell a story of socio-economic and environmental justice that extends our understanding of organizational forms and values. The book is an empirically grounded call for us to look way beyond capitalism to create a better present and future. -- Ann Armstrong, Director of Social Enterprise Initiative, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Canada The growing critique of the current and insufficient model of development has materialized in a number of local self-organized initiatives that inter-connect ecology, economy, and culture with the aim to promote well-being. This book helps us to understand concrete examples in which practices of consumption and production have been re-embedded in a sustainable and solidarity approach, as an alternative to the (un)limitations of the liberal market economy institutions. Most importantly it stimulates the reader to immerse in collective efforts that point towards possible future(s). -- Carlos Alberto Cioce Sampaio and Ana Paula Debastiani, Researchers of the Ecosocioeconomy Core, Universidade Federal do Parana (UFPR), Brazil This book synthesizes a wide range of literature on sustainability, social-economics, and political sociology, as it clarifies new forms of life. It specifically focuses on practices of commoning and renewed social equity in urban and interurban meshworks of a solidarity economy, in the Global North and the Global South. Presented in a compact package of grounded case studies, this anthology responds in an accessible and engaging approach to the question, 'How can we democratize economies?' -- Jose-Manuel Martinez Sierra, Jean Monnet ad personam Professor European Law and Government, Harvard University, USA This volume delivers an innovative approach to the sociology of social movements through a collection of transnational analyses of Sustainable Community Movement Organisations (SCMOs). The editors' joint expertise has brought together scholars who explore such grassroots movements across different issues and geographies. Through a rich theoretical framework and situated case studies, the volume illuminates solidarity initiatives who mobilise on shared social and environmental justice concerns to struggle for alternative knowledge and alternative economies. -- Eleftheria Lekakis, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications, School of Media, Film and Music, University of Sussex, UK