Solidarity co-operatives : an embedded historical communitarian pluralist approach to social enterprise development?(Keynote to RMIT Research Colloquium)

In this paper, we explore antecedents of the FairShares Model of social enterprise to answer the question “how has the concept of a ‘solidarity co-operative’ developed in the UK?” Our research on the antecedents of the FairShares Model uncovers a history of attempts to integrate entrepreneurs, producers, service users and investors using multi-stakeholder approaches to social enterprise. We argue that this (hidden) history is rooted in a growing acceptance of communitarian pluralist principles in the social and solidarity economy, but remains marginalised in the UK due to a powerful US discourse on social entrepreneurship. The FairShares Model represents a fresh attempt to advance communitarian pluralism in social economy through advocacy of ‘multi-stakeholder co operation in member owned social enterprises’.