1st Edition

Social Economy in China and the World

Edited By Ngai Pun, Ben Hok-bun Ku, Hairong Yan, Anita Koo Copyright 2016
    308 Pages
    by Routledge

    308 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Thirty-years of economic transformation has turned China into one of the major players in the global capitalist economy. However, its economic growth has generated rising problems in inequality, alienation, and sustainability with the agrarian crises of the 1990s giving rise to real social outcry to the extent that they became the object of central government policy reformulations.



    Contributing to a paradigm-shift in the theory and practices of economic development, this book examines the concept of social economy in China and around the world. It offers to rethink space, economy and community in a trans-border context which moves us beyond both planned and market economies. The chapters address theoretical issues, critical reflections and case studies on the practice of social economy in the context of globalization and its attempt to create an alternative modernity. Through this, the book builds a platform for further cross-disciplinary and cross-boundary dialogue on the future of social economy in China and the world.



    With examples from Asia, North America, Latin America and Europe this book will not only appeal to students and scholars of Chinese and Asian social policy and development, but also those of social economy from an international perspective.



    Preface Part I: Rethinking Economy 1. Social Economics and Economic Anthropology: Challenging Conventional Economic Thinking and Practice 2. Mapping Social and Solidarity Economy: The Local and Translocal Evolution of a Concept 3. Rethinking the Politics of the Mainstream Co-op Movement Part II: Social Economy in the World 4. Workers' Cooperative Movement in Argentina 5. La Alameda: "Guerrilla" Struggles to Make the Argentine Economy Social 6. Democratizing Capital: Social and Solidarity Finance in Quebec 7. The Struggle for Public Power in the United States 8.Marco Semenzin, Workers' Cooperatives in Italy - Between Solidarity and Autocratic Centralism 9. Developing Solidarity Economy in Asia: Innovations in Policy and Practice Part III: Social Economy in Chinese Societies 10. Zhoujiazhuang Village: A Study of the Heritage of the People’s Commune 11. Debating the Rural Cooperative Movement in China, the Past and the Present 12., "Yingxiu Mother" as Agent of Community Development: Case Study of a Practice of Community Economy in Sichuan Post-disaster Rebuilding in China 13. Local Economy Growing at a Steady Pace: The Case of the Peasant Farming Project by The Taiwan Rural Front 14. In the Struggle over Urban Space: The Solidarity Economy Movement and Urban Utopianism in Hong Kong

    Biography

    PU Ngai is Professor of the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.



    KU Hok Bun is Associate Professor and program leader of the Master of Social Work (China) program in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.



    YAN, Hairong is Associate Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.



    Anita KOO is Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.