특집 논문 : 사회적 경제와 한국시민사회의 과제 ; 한국 사회적경제(Social Economy)의 현황과 과제 -사회적경제의 정착과정을 중심으로- = Social Economy in Korea : Definition and Application

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The aims of this article are to 1) provide an overview of the different interpretations on the concept <Social Economy in Korea>, confused with the concepts <Third Sector> or <Non-Profit Sector>; 2) evaluate the force and weakness of Social Economy in Korea; 3) propose the future strategies of social economy organizations(SEO) in job creation for low income families through alternative principles of work and management. With social economy implemented by cooperatives, mutual associations, associations, foundations, and charity, voluntary and non-profit organizations, European countries have its own history, legal framework, and dynamic political, economic and social system. Against this tradition, there emerged a heterogeneous set of initiatives, promoting numerous objectives. Their main aims are to provide goods and services in response to new requirements, to try to integrate disadvantaged people into the labour market. They require a range of resources combined in different ways: commercial income, public financing, donations, subscriptions, loans, non-monetary contributions and voluntary contributions. They make up ``the Third Sector``, a cohesive whole which signals dynamism and interaction with the public and for-profit private sectors. In Korea, the law for the creation of social enterprise, promulgated in December 2006, promote the movement of associations and cooperatives who want to participate in the competition for public resources. This situation incite the activists also to resist against this trend and search the alternative strategies. However it will be important, for this, to find an identity of social economy in Korea and to develop the potential of their organizations. The problem is an difficulty for application of two principles in social economy: 1) limit the pursuit of private and individual profit, 2) emphasize the democratic decision making or the self-management tradition in the organizations. Difficult, because we must do it, with poor unemployeds whose employability is generally very low and also with weak tradition of korean social economy sector. There are certain problems in the policies for the creation of social enterprise in our country. It is the generation of low wage jobs, the hollowing out of social economy tradition, and the difficulty of control and management of quality and cost of the services. Despite of these problems, the movement of social economy in Korea has certainly a potential to create the social enterprises and to propose the alternative paradigm which can play in difficult socio-economic situation. This is 1) to build local social capital through civic engagement, 2) to create the jobs with an alternative methode.