Social and Solidarity Economy in Greece: European, National and Local Perspectives

It has been noted that during times of crisis, economic practices organized on principles of reciprocity often arise. In the last decade in Greece Social and Solidarity Economy seemed to gain a momentum under the shadow of the debt crises that struck the country from 2009 onwards. This momentum included both grassroots movements in the form of civic association and institutional changes that attempted to tune in with a European trend towards social economy. In our contribution we review both the social and the institutional changes that resulted to a social economy ‘big bang’. Furthermore, by following the formation of a local association of social enterprises we sketch the landscape of social entrepreneurship in Greek periphery and its relation to a long genealogy of both local subsistence economy and transnational policy networks.