An Impossible Marriage: Solidarity Economy and Monetary Economy

Can a forest or a human life be reduced to a price? Can one hold, or balance, contradictory values? If not, then those who advocate a Social and Solidarity Economy must address the generally intractable conflicts between social and environmental values on the one hand, and monetary ones on the other. Markets create prices, or monetary values, on an entirely different logic to either shared social values, for example related to basic needs, or ecologically determined environmental values. So, doesn’t the Social and Solidarity Economy need to avoid the trappings of monetary calculation and capitalist markets?

UNRISD’s website: www.unrisd.org/en/library/blog-posts/an-impossible-marriage-solidarity-economy-and-monetary-economy