Waste management strategies that focus on reduction, reuse and recycling have an immediate environmental impact through diverting waste from landfills and conserving natural resources. Although recycling is practiced in many cities around the world and especially in developed countries, little attention has been paid to the challenges associated with it in small island communities. Furthermore, research has focused predominantly on waste management practices carried out by local governments and private corporations rather than by non-profit community groups. This thesis examines the assets and barriers of community-based recycling operations on Mayne and Hornby Islands in British Columbia, Canada. The study develops a methodological framework for assessing community-based recycling and utilizes qualitative research tools to achieve the research objectives. Theoretical pillars of social economy, community-building and environmental education are examined in this case study. The research purports that the community recycling groups are central to building social capital and inculcating environmental awareness on the islands as well as to contributing to the wider social economy network. Co-management partnerships between the community recycling groups and local government allow for increased local engagement and participation in resource recovery.

Globally, hundreds of thousands of people subsist by informally collecting, sorting, and selling materials recovered from disposed solid waste. For most individuals this informal activity is precarious and prone to job insecurity, stigmatization, exploitation, physical danger, and emotional distress. In order to understand how informal recyclers perceive their health and hazards, data were collected over a six-month period in 2010, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Through a political ecology framework, the authors relate the systemic and exploitative structures that continue to negatively influence the health of the recyclers. The authors demonstrate that independent informal recyclers face a number of multifaceted health implications that are directly related to the unregulated and undervalued collection of solid waste. Recyclers are either uninformed or indifferent about policy interventions, such as accessing free personal protective equipment. The article concludes by suggesting specific measures supported by the academic literature on inclusive waste management and social networks, advocating an emphasis on cooperativism as a means of creating a space for workplace health promotion and access to resources. / Graduate

This research explores how Participatory Video (PV) can facilitate empowerment and strengthen dialogue and engagement for public policy with members of recycling cooperatives and government in the greater metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil. The research project provided opportunities for catadores/as (‘recyclers’) to explore PV as a way to shed light on their livelihood challenges, but also as an approach to celebrate, demonstrate and legitimize the value and significance of their work to local government and community. Working through a participatory approach, twenty-two leaders from eleven cooperatives were involved in all aspects of the video-making process, from script writing to filming, group editing and knowledge mobilization. The research took place during nine months of fieldwork located in four municipalities in the greater metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil using multiple ethnographic and participatory methods. The methodology for this research is action-oriented, and applies a participatory community-based multi-methods approach. The purpose of the videos was to relay the message that catadores/as perform a valuable service to society, and through the organization of cooperatives have the capacity to be further supported and integrated into waste management programs. The videos were used as a tool for communication with government and for community outreach. This research is supported through the Participatory Sustainable Waste Management (PSWM) project, a six-year Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded University Partnership project (2005-2011). The overall purpose of the participatory-based PSWM project was to increase the effectiveness, safety, and income generation of organized waste recycling in originally four and later six Brazilian municipalities in the metropolitan region of São Paulo: Santo André, Diadema, Ribeirão Pires, São Bernardo do Campo, Mauá and some parts of the municipality of São Paulo. The capacity building activities and actions of the PSWM project have contributed to structure, organize and strengthen cooperative recycling enterprises and their members, for example, by setting up a pilot project on micro-credit and advancing the practice of solidarity economy through collective commercialization and networking of the recyclers in the region. In addition, the project has helped create a more inclusive culture amongst the local governments in this region, where many recyclers are now present in political meetings and decision making related to waste management. Unfortunately, this is not the case in all the municipalities and there are still barriers to participatory models in decision-making and a lack of political support. Findings support the conclusion that PV can be a powerful methodological tool contributing to the process of individual, community and organizational empowerment and is significant for democratic governance and the increasingly popular notion of the knowledge democracy. This research also has policy relevance and practical application. The findings have the capacity to inform models of participatory governance, and improved democratic processes in addressing complex urban development challenges, in addition to advancing practices in government accountability and transparency. / Graduate / 0344 / 0700 / 0999 / crystaltre@gmail.com

Comment expliquer les variations du niveau de don dans des pays comparables ? Dans tous les pays industrialisés, la crise économique des années 1980 a favorisé la recherche d'alternatives à l'État providence en incitant les organismes du Tiers secteur à jouer un rôle accru dans un partenariat pour la définition et la mise en œuvre des politiques publiques. Parmi les organisations du Tiers secteur, les fondations philanthropiques offrent un cadre juridique qui permet aux personnes qui le souhaitent de réaliser des actes de générosité en affectant une partie de leur fortune personnelle, sous forme de don, à des fins d'intérêt général. Le don peut être ainsi considéré comme une expression concrète de la coopération entre les citoyens en vue du bien commun. Tous les pays démocratiques essaient d’en favoriser le développement. Les explications classiques de la variation de niveau du don entre pays développés ne prennent pas en considération le don comme un fait social. Nous soutenons que le niveau du don dans une société ne peut être expliqué par la somme des dons individuels qui répondent chacun à des motivations personnelles mais bien par ce qui constitue son substrat social : l’état de la société dont la cohésion est déterminée à la fois par la présence de capital social et la représentation des identités. A la différence du capital humain qui regroupe les compétences, les qualifications et les connaissances des individus, le capital social peut être compris comme « l’ensemble des relations, des réseaux et des normes qui facilitent l’action collective ». Le capital social fait ainsi référence aux relations que les individus établissent entre eux au sein des réseaux sociaux ainsi qu'aux normes de réciprocité qui naissent de ces relations. L’hypothèse du don comme variable dépendante de l’état de cohésion sociale ouvre la voie à cette recherche doctorale axée d’une part sur le niveau de capital social dans les pays économiquement développés et d’autre part, sur la signification du don comme mode de représentation de l’identité. Elle contribue à définir les contours théoriques du capital social en mettant en évidence les liens étroits qui unit ce concept au don et par là, à la construction des identités. Cette analyse de la relation entre don, capital social et identité a des implications directes pour la recherche dans le champ de la société civile. La société civile est présentée sous deux perspectives différentes. La première, de tradition nord-américaine, associe le Tiers secteur à la condition exclusive du « non profit». La seconde perspective, de tradition européenne, retient l’idée d’une économie sociale hybride composée d’entreprises et organisations qui relèvent à la fois des secteurs marchand et non marchand. Ces entreprises et organisations de l’économie sociale sont des structures entremêlant dans leurs actions une pluralité de logiques économiques. En se fondant sur l’analyse de Polanyi sur l’encastrement de l’économie et ses différentes formes d’intégration, associée à la logique maussienne du don, nous tentons d’éclairer la dimension socioéconomique, voire politique des initiatives de l’économie sociale. L’économie sociale peut ainsi être appréhendée comme une « économie du don », comprise comme économie plurielle. Par ailleurs, la Nouvelle sociologie économique propose à la fois une analyse réticulaire de l’économie qui se fonde entre autre sur la présence et la densité des liens interpersonnels et une analyse culturelle de l’économie qui relie les marchés aux valeurs. A partir de là, il devient possible d’appréhender l’économie sociale comme une « économie du capital social », entendu comme facteur organisationnel et générateur de sens. / How to explain variations in the level of donation in comparable countries? In all industrialized countries, the economic crisis of the 1980s encouraged the search for alternatives to the welfare state by encouraging third sector organizations to play a greater role in a partnership for the definition and implementation of public policies.Among Third sector organizations, philanthropic foundations provide a legal framework that allows people who wish to carry out acts of generosity by allocating a part of their personal wealth in the form of gift, for the purpose of general interest. Giving can be considered as a concrete expression of the cooperation between citizens for the common good.All democratic countries try to promote giving. The conventional explanations of the variation in level of gift among developed countries do not consider the gift as a social fact. We argue that the level of giving can't be explained by the sum of individual gifts that each respond to personal motives but by the state of the society whose cohesion is determined to both by the presence of social capital and the representation of identities.Social capital can be understood as " relationships, networks and norms that facilitate collective action." Social capital refers to relations that individuals establish them in social networks and the norms of reciprocity that arise from these relationships.This thesis is focused, first, on the level of social capital in economically developed countries and secondly on the meaning of the gift as a mode of representation of identity. It helps define social capital theory by highlighting the close relationship that unites the concept of the gift and hence the construction of identities.This analysis of the relationship between gift, identity ans social capital has direct implications for research in the field of civil society. Civil society is presented from two different perspectives. The first perspective, in a North American tradition, determines the Third sector to the sole condition of "non profit" sector. The second perspective, in an European tradition, consider social economy with organizations or enterprises within both profit and non-profit sector. These organizations and entreprises mix in their actions a plurality of economic logics.Based on the analysis of Polanyi on the embedding of the economy and its various forms of integration, associated with the Maussian logic of the gift, we try to shed light on the socio-economic dimension, or political dimension, of social economy. Social economy can be seen as a "gift economy", understood as a plural economy.Finally, the New Economic Sociology offers both an analysis of the reticular economy based on the presence and density of interpersonal ties and a cultural analysis of the economy that connects markets to values. It is possible to understand the social economy as a “social capital economy". Social capital is understood as an organizational factor and a meaning.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:20:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ItaloRFA.pdf: 833668 bytes, checksum: 4c2e3c103b0de2503c8206687eda233f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-09-15 / Crisis in the capitalist system of production, contributes to appearance of social enterprises. In spite of, to believe these undertakings were to promote a true revolution that supply alternatives to consolidation of a socialist society, which it wasn t succeed. The cooperatives which was our object of study, get appearance in the middle of the capitalist system of production in a disorganized way, therefore, many of them Just get rich or they became true work machines and exploration of the human work. This study has like main objective: Do cooperatives have knowledge and/or they pratice rudments of the cooperativist moviment?. Get some conclusions, the cooperatives of work come promoting a decline of the rudments of the cooperativism and they don t have a knowledge about the rudments of the cooperativism and they don t pratice the same ones, instead of, the ccoperative of production comes promoting the appearance of the self-management idealism which they know the rudments of thecooperativism and they pratice the same ones / A crise no sistema capitalista de produ??o contribui para o surgimento de Empreendimentos Sociais. Apesar de se acreditar que estes empreendimentos fossem promover uma verdadeira revolu??o, que forneceria as ferramentas para a consolida??o de uma sociedade socialista, este fato n?o se confirmou. As cooperativas, a exemplo dos nossos objetos de estudo, emergiram no seio do sistema capitalista de produ??o de forma desarticulada e, assim, muitas delas findaram se aburguesando ou transformando-se em verdadeiras m?quinas de explora??o do trabalho humano. Este estudo tem como problema de pesquisa: as cooperativas possuem conhecimento e/ou praticam os princ?pios do movimento cooperativista? Como algumas das conclus?es, as cooperativas de trabalho v?m promovendo o decl?nio dos princ?pios do cooperativismo, n?o possuem conhecimento sobre os princ?pios do cooperativismo e n?o praticam os mesmos e, ao contr?rio, a cooperativa de produ??o vem promovendo a ascens?o do ide?rio autogestion?rio, conhece os princ?pios do cooperativismo e praticam os mesmos

Orientador: Lelia de Menezes Stein / Banca: Maria Ribeiro do Valle / Banca: Ana Lúcia Cortegoso / Resumo: É observada, no atual contexto da sociedade capitalista, a manifestação em escala crescente de empreendimentos cooperativos baseados na autogestão. Tendo surgido e se desenvolvido no movimento operário em meados do século XIX, na perspectiva de uma sociedade mais justa e igualitária, com base socialista, essa forma de organização do trabalho tem sido adotada (e adaptada) pelo movimento da Economia Solidária após o contexto de crise instaurado por volta da década de 1970. O caráter voluntário da adesão aos empreendimentos coletivos fica comprometido em contextos de crise econômica, nos quais as possibilidades de ocupação são reduzidas. Deste modo, grande parte das pessoas acaba ingressando nos empreendimentos alheias ao seu projeto ideológico. A proposta desta pesquisa é sistematizar informações acerca da rotatividade de sócios em uma cooperativa de trabalho, com dez anos de existência, 327 sócios e 271 ex-sócios. A falta de um quadro estável de sócios pode conferir ao empreendimento um caráter de trabalho paliativo e lhe trazer uma série de problemas. Por meio de análises documentais e de entrevistas com atuais e ex-cooperados, analisou-se variáveis que poderiam estar relacionadas ao alto índice de rotatividade de sócios. O pouco tempo de permanência como sócios na cooperativa e a preferência pelo trabalho com relação de emprego representaram uma influência significativa na questão da alta rotatividade. Com base na pesquisa, foram ainda indicados alguns fatores que poderiam auxiliar na permanência do sócio na cooperativa por um tempo prolongado, durante o qual possa se envolver mais ativamente e absorver melhor a proposta do empreendimento / Abstract: It is observed, on the current context of capitalist society, the manifestation of a growing scale of cooperatives enterprises based on self-management. Emerged and developed on labour movement in the mid-nineteenth century, on a perspective of fairest and more egalitarian society, with socialist base, this kind of working organization has been adopted (and adapted) by the movement of Social Economy after the crises circumstance around the decade of 1970. The voluntary character of adhesion to collective enterprises becomes implicated on economics' crises context, on which the possibilities of occupations are reduced. Therefore, a large number of people join enterprises inattentive to their ideological project. The purpose of this research is to systematize information about the rotating of members on a worker cooperative, which has ten years of existence, 327 members and 271 ex-members. The lack of a stable working staff members can confer to the cooperative enterprise a palliative working character, bringing to it series of problems. Through documental analyses and interview with the actual and ex-members, it was observed variables that could be related to the high rate of rotating of members. The little time of permanence as members in a cooperative and the preference to the jobs which have an employ bond represent a significant influence on the rotating of members. According to the research, it was indicated some factors that could support the permanence of the members on the enterprises for a prolonged period of time, in which they could get more actively involved and absorb in a better way the proposal of the enterprises / Mestre

Cette recherche, centrée sur le concept de « valeur de lien », traite plus spécifiquement de sa mobilisation au sein de l’entreprise d’assurance mutualiste, en vue d’esquisser un renouveau de son modèle ainsi que de l’idéal démocratique dont il est porteur. Elle s’inscrit dans les évolutions de la société contemporaine, dans laquelle le consumérisme de masse fait progressivement place à une consommation choisie, et où la relation de pur commerce prend une dimension sociétale. La dichotomie classique producteur-consommateur est ainsi tempérée, et l’on assiste à l’établissement de nouveaux types de relations entre les acteurs de la consommation. L’analyse de ce processus d’effacement progressif des frontières entre acteurs de la consommation est au cœur de notre travail. En effet, au sein des sociétés d’assurance mutualistes, les parties prenantes nouent des relations spécifiques, qui dépassent la relation de consommation classique, apportant à l’échange marchand, au-delà d’une valeur d’échange et d’une valeur d’usage, une « valeur de lien ». Le concept de valeur de lien est issu des sciences sociales. L’émergence des « communautés de marques » dans le domaine de l’économie des biens a conduit les théoriciens et les praticiens du marketing à mobiliser ce concept dans les sciences de gestion. Mais la mobilisation de ce concept dans l’économie des services et plus spécifiquement dans l’assurance, reste encore fragmentaire et partielle, laissant ainsi un champ libre à ce travail de recherche. Notre recherche trouve son ancrage dans un travail d’enquête effectué au sein du sociétariat et de certains personnels du groupe Macif. Nous avons été conduits à qualifier la valeur de lien « d’objet fuyant », et donc à concevoir une démarche d’investigation spécifique permettant de la mettre en évidence et de la caractériser au sein de l’entreprise. Cette démarche s’appuie sur une analyse d’entretiens effectués auprès d’un groupe exploratoire constitué de sociétaires et de personnels en contact du groupe Macif. Elle met en œuvre une technique de codage des données et un traitement informatique adapté (logiciel Modalisa). La démarche d’investigation s’effectue selon une double analyse des données, de type étique-émique (ou horizontal-vertical), visant tout d’abord à comprendre ce qui fait sens à travers les discours des répondants, ensuite à dégager de ce sens les éléments d’une structuration de la valeur de lien. Une telle démarche implique notamment, de la part de l’intervieweur, une capacité d’empathie avec les répondants. Notre recherche nous conduit à dégager les résultats suivants : • En premier lieu, nous qualifions « l’expérience du lien », fondée sur les émotions, une intention de réciprocité, une éthique de fonctionnement et une confiance partagée. • Ensuite, une caractérisation de la valeur de lien dans le champ mutualiste est proposée, sur la base d’une extension de la typologie de Rémy (2000), qui fait actuellement référence dans le champ des entreprises de service. • Puis nous montrons comment la valeur de lien se manifeste, selon que le lien est fondé sur un militantisme a priori, ou sur une relation suscitée a posteriori lors de l’échange entre les personnels en contact et les assurés. • Nous soulignons les principaux traits de la valeur de lien : une capacité à tempérer l’altérité créée par le contrat, une dissymétrie entre les partenaires de l’échange, un manque de sentiment communautaire au sein-même du sociétariat. • Nous dégageons les domaines d’expression privilégiés de cette valeur de lien : l’empathie dont témoignent les personnels en contact et les dispositifs à visée solidaire et de l’entreprise. • La reconnaissance émerge également comme fondatrice de la valeur de lien. Notre démarche s’inscrit dans le champ de la théorie de la reconnaissance qui fonde une éthique de la relation interpersonnelle, constitutive du lien social. [...] / This research focuses on the concept of « linking value », applied to mutualist insurance companies, in order to contribute to the revival of their core values and democratic ideals. It is fed by the evolutions of contemporary society, where chosen consumption is progressively replacing mass consumerism, thus moderating the producer-consumer dichotomy, which allows new types of relationships between actors to emerge. The progressive disappearance of the borders between consumption actors is key to our work, as the mutualist insurance companies’ stakeholders build new types of relations, beyond classic consumption relations, which yields not only exchange value and use value, but also a linking value. The concept of linking value was originally developed by social science, and further brand community developments have led to mobilize this notion in the marketing field. Its usage in the field of insurance services is new. Our work comprises a survey among members of Groupe Macif, including interviews with Macif employees, Macif delegates, and Macif’s historic founder. Linking value is an “evasive object”, and we had to implement a specific research methodology in order to bring it to light and characterize it within the company. To analyze the interviews, we used an appropriate coding technique, through dedicated software (Modalisa). The research is carried through a double data analysis method, named etic - emic (or horizontal – vertical), aimed first at understanding what has a meaning in the respondent’s locutions, and then at identifying the elements of structure of the linking value from the meanings identified. Such reasoning requires that the interviewer has empathy capacities with the respondents. Our research brings the following results: • First, we qualify the “link experience” based on emotions, a reciprocity intention, an ethical functioning and shared confidence. • We then propose a characterization of linking value in the mutualist field, based on an extension to Rémy’s typology (2000), which is the current reference for services companies. • Next, we show how linking value emerges, depending on it being based on a priori activism, or on a posteriori relationship between the employees and the policy holder. • We establish the main characteristics of linking value: its capacity to temper the otherness created by the contract, an asymmetry between the partners of the exchange, the very lack of community feelings among members. • We expose the privileged expression vectors for this linking value: the empathy deployed by company’s employees and the solidarity schemes. • Recognition emerges also as a foundation to linking value. We register our reasoning in the field of recognition theory, as it founds an ethic of interpersonal relationship, constituent of social link. The mutual recognition dynamics allows each individual to experience a “collective revival”, and to share his belonging to a political or ethical community, without losing his identity. Mutualist insurance companies need to recognize such a pluralist community, in which each individual sees himself in the purpose of a company model, as this recognition founds linking value. We finally show that resuming the democratic ideals that historically founded Mutualist Associations is what will allow them to restore an authentic social link, in the spirit of modern mutualism.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / O presente trabalho se concentra no estudo detalhado da AssociaÃÃo Centro de Desenvolvimento ComunitÃrio das TimbaÃbas â CDCT, localizada no bairro das TimbaÃbas em Juazeiro do Norte/CE. Ao se instalar numa nova sede, os associados que a compunham, foram inseridos em uma comunidade onde havia muito mais do que apenas escassez de recursos materiais. Foi quando alguns deles sentiram a necessidade de mudanÃa de ideal que os mantinham unidos. A realidade com que se depararam, foi suficiente para entenderem que uma mudanÃa de comportamento por parte de todos se fazia necessÃria. ComeÃaram a pensar em aÃÃes, onde aquela comunidade carente de tantos serviÃos pudesse usufruir do espaÃo comum da sede da associaÃÃo, alÃm de se beneficiar de projetos que ela mesma viesse a desenvolver. A pesquisa tem como objetivo geral o processo de analisar esta associaÃÃo na perspectiva de um empreendimento econÃmico e solidÃrio (EES) e à luz do marco analÃtico de sustentabilidade, com intuito de saber em que medida esta, enquanto EES tem desenvolvido as dimensÃes da sustentabilidade. Para tanto à feita uma anÃlise a partir de um quadro analÃtico da sustentabilidade. Como objetivos especÃficos buscou-se identificar os referenciais ligados à economia solidÃria, empreendimentos econÃmicos e solidÃrios e seus panoramas atuais no Brasil e na regiÃo do Cariri, alÃm de um levantamento teÃrico sobre sustentabilidade. Foi tambÃm realizada uma caracterizaÃÃo profunda e uma analise do CDCT a partir do quadro analÃtico apresentado. Como pressuposto, considerou-se que o CDCT articula as diversas dimensÃes de sustentabilidade e pode desenvolver aÃÃes capazes de contribuir para um desenvolvimento sustentÃvel. A pesquisa foi do tipo exploratÃria e utilizou como mÃtodo o estudo de caso com coleta de dados por meio de pesquisa bibliogrÃfica e da observaÃÃo participante, bem como entrevista focalizada e anÃlises documentais. Como resultado, observou-se que a associaÃÃo se enquadra no perfil de empreendimento econÃmico e solidÃrio, articulando diversas lÃgicas econÃmicas e desenvolve atividades que estimulam uma participaÃÃo da comunidade envolvida capaz de promover transformaÃÃes sociais, polÃticas, culturais e ambientais.

As society continues to shift into the digital age, the relationship between social exchange and economic activity is becoming increasingly homogenous. The success of digital products are largely sustained upon the leverage of social relationships and the quasi-sharing of material items, services, and digital media. Emergence of the sharing and on-demand economies is evidence of the necessity to understand social exchange as a form of economic transaction. As such, this study attempts to conceptualize and define the concept of social wealth to understand the basis of an economic synthesis. In attempt to theoretically integrate the concept, a mixed methods design utilizing a grounded theory approach serves to set precedence for a future area of study. Data is collected through a series of focus groups before analysis through a linguistic processing program. The data reveals a proposed definition for social wealth in addition to a proposed series of socioeconomic models of how social wealth is produced, accumulated, and transferred.

The diploma thesis treats of the social exclusion of the handicapped people in the Czech Republic which is significant group threatened by social exclusion. Other groups threatened by social exclusion are mentioned in diploma thesis as well. It includes youth, elder, Romanies, immigration, homeless and individuals leaving inpatient treatment or prison. Social exclusion means not only a lack of money for basic living needs but also an exclusion from labour market, social life, real estate market and health care. Poverty and unemployment are the main factors of social exclusion. Long-term unemployment is a serious problem which is important in the whole European Union. That is why we have to find solutions. Active employment policy brings one of the solutions in which reskilling and consultancy are the main instruments of help. Thanks to these instruments the unemployed can work again. The diploma thesis finds a solution in social economy and its subjects. Also non-profit organizations become involved in social area, they make new job opportunities for social excluded people and contribute to their social inclusion.