The Future of Social Services - Approaches to a Sustainable Social Economy

• Author: Raluca Mihalcioiu
• Position: Senior Lecturer, PhD, Spiru Haret University, Romania
• Pages: 535-538

Performance and Risks in the European Economy

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The Future of Social Services - Approaches

to a Sustainable Social Economy

Raluca M. Mihalcioiu

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Abstract: Soc ial facilities a nd services are today more and more organized as modern service companies.

They are increasingly working with market mechanisms rules. The evaluation of performance and efficiency

controls the redistribution of funds to social security systems. The Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus

was awarded for giving microcredits t hat helped citizens of his country, to find a wa y out of poverty.

Sustainability is a key topic to the world ec onomy debate. Companies should not pursue the goal of profit

maximization, but they should solve the social problems of the world through their economic actions.

Currently 20 percent of the p eople in the world possess 83 percent of wealth, about 1.73 billion people l ive

below the poverty limit. In this review I present the concept of „ Social Economy“, underlying the way how to

optimize t he actions of social services providers to the needs of the citizens. The analysis starts fr om the

question of how national governments can regulate a nd subsidise s ervices in the public good and how the

civil society participate in decision making process on this issue.

Key-words: public economy; social services; sustainability; market; public good

JEL Classification: P31; J11; H5; M14

1. Introduction

The social sector is one of the largest economic activity. Usually, in the public discussions it is

perceived only as scandalous or as selfless-volunteer. Experts in politics, administration, science and

economy are concentrate on the issue of social services providers, how can they adjust their activity

according to people needs and how is this to achieve, how is to overcome the problems created by the

financial and economic crises.

This paper argues the difficulty to find a clear and conclusive definition for the concept of "social

economy". Different perspectives on some key i ssues and challenges in social economy are discussed,

with respect to the most important one: the shortage of skilled workers.

Important steps where made at the EU level, with regard to social economy organizations. In the

European Commission Communication "Creating a favourable climate for social enterprises, key

stakeholders in the social economy and innovation" (COM-2011-682 final) social enterprises are

identified with social economy. This represents an important issue in promoting support and

sustainability in the social economy sector.

2. The Concept

o

f "Social Economy"

The "social economy" is a branch of economics and deals with services for the benefit of the whole

society (individuals and collective). The focus is put on human services (social issues).

The term "social economy" goes back to the 19 century in Europe ( France), and it was present in

political, social and economic debates. It was the work of social reformers of that time who saw in the

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Senior Lecturer, PhD, Spiru Haret University, Romania, Address: 13 Ion Ghica St., Bucharest, Sector 3, Romania, tel:

+4021455.10.00, Corresponding author: ralucamarilena@googlemail.com.