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Abstract
Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy, officially bilingual (English and French), and one of the most multicultural countries in the world. Indeed, more than one-fifth of Canada's population consists of first-generation immigrants, and a similar percentage classify themselves as visible minorities. According to the 2016 census there are more than 250 distinct ethnic origins, often with distinct languages (Statistics Canada, 2016, 2017a). A confederation of ten provinces and three territories, Canada has a current population of over 36 million people who live across an expansive geographic area that constitutes the second largest country in the world. Most of its population live in urban settings (83%), with the largest cities being Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver (Statistics Canada, 2017b). Toronto is classified as the third-most cosmopolitan city in the world following Dubai and Brussels (World Atlas, 2018).
In this multifaceted context, the social economy of Canada plays an important role in bridging the public and private sectors to form a strong social infrastructure (Quarter, Mook, & Armstrong, 2018). It constitutes a vast range of organizations guided by social objectives including nonprofit organizations such as charities, foundations, and social enterprises; and cooperatives both non-financial, in fields such as housing, childcare, healthcare, and farm marketing, and financial such as credit unions and caisses populaires.
There are distinct traditions of the social economy in anglophone and francophone parts of Canada. There are also traditions specific to particular populations, such as the Black social economy (Hossein, 2013); and the Indigenous social economy (Restoule, Gruner, & Metatawabin, 2012; Sengupta, Vieta, & McMurtry, 2015; Wuttunee, 2010). In this review, we look at the anglophone research on the social economy, noting that there are also French-language research institutions and educational programs focusing on the social economy; however, a review of these is beyond the scope of this paper.
After providing an overview of the concept of the social economy in Canada, we go on to summarize research on its scope and size in the Canadian context. Using a Venn diagram, we highlight the interactions between the different sectors in society and emphasize that the social economy is an integral part of a mixed economy that serves in many ways as its social infrastructure. We find four different types of social economy organizations: social economy businesses, community economic development organizations, public sector nonprofits, and civil society organizations. From there, we focus on voluntaristic behaviors of giving, volunteering (formal and informal), and participating. Our focus shifts to describing the infrastructure supporting research of the sector, including key academic and umbrella associations and networks, as well as formal and informal education programs. Finally, we describe key funders of social economy research including government and foundations.

This article examines the phenomenon of volunteering from a benefit—cost perspective. Both the individual making a decision to volunteer and the organization making a decision to use volunteer labor face benefits and costs of their actions, yet these costs and benefits almost always remain unarticulated, perhaps because the common perception of the do-good volunteer who contributes his or her labor for free discourages rational benefit—cost calculus. In this article, we examine, conceptually, the benefits and costs (both direct and indirect) accruing to the volunteer and the organization that uses volunteer labor. It is important for organizations making resource allocation both to understand and to delineate these benefits and costs. Using a case study of an organization and recent methods in social accounting, we present a practical model for doing so.

Abstract**:  Organizations within the social economy have unique characteristics, yet their accounting procedures do not reflect this uniqueness, and rather are designed for private‐sector organizations that exchange their goods and services in the market. We argue that conventional accounting creates a perception that social economy organizations are users of resources and separate from the private and public sectors, rather than creators of value and an integral part of our society (Quarter, Mook, and Richmond, 2003a). This paper addresses the accounting needs of social economy organizations by presenting a model of social accounting—the Socioeconomic Impact Statement—that may help bring out the impact of such organizations. The paper presents a demonstration project of the potential utility of the Socioeconomic Impact Statement.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Historic Changes in the Canadian Credit Union Movement -- 2. Non-financial Co-operatives in Canada: 1955 to 2005 -- 3. Leaving and Entering the Social Economy: Factors Associated with the Conversion of Organizational Form -- 4. The Difference Culture Makes: The Competitive Advantage of Reciprocal, Non-monetary Exchange -- 5. Community Business Development -- 6. Social Businesses in Twenty-First Century Latin America: The Cases of Argentina and Venezuela -- 7. Challenges for Engaging Social Economy Businesses in Rural and Small Town Renewal -- 8. Land, Self-Determination, and the Social Economy in Fort Albany First Nation -- 9. Social Entrepreneurship: A Comparative Perspective -- 10. Exploring Social Transformation, Financial Self-Sufficiency, and Innovation in Canadian Social Enterprises -- 11. Education for the Social -- Contributors

Building on the popular 2010 collection Researching the Social Economy, Businesses with a Difference explores the challenges and opportunities faced by firms that seek a genuine balance between their social and economic objectives.

The contributions to this volume, flowing from an inter-regional and international network of scholars and community organizations, analyze how the social economy, in its many manifestations, interacts with and shares commonalities with organizations in the other sectors of the economy. Taken as a whole, Researching the Social Economy enriches our understanding of how this important cluster of organizations contributes to Canadian society in both economic and social terms, and lays the groundwork for future study."--Pub. desc.

The contributions to this volume, flowing from an inter-regional and international network of scholars and community organizations, analyze how the social economy, in its many manifestations, interacts with and shares commonalities with organizations in the other sectors of the economy. Taken as a whole, Researching the Social Economy enriches our understanding of how this important cluster of organizations contributes to Canadian society in both economic and social terms, and lays the groundwork for future study."--Pub. desc