Alternative Economics | Freire Institute

Paulo Freire’s philosophy of education has had a profound impact on people throughout the world working for social change. His work has been applied not only to formal educational settings but to many diverse social movements.

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Price: GBP 250.00

Alternative Economics

Building economies centred on people and planet

Whose economy counts? Exploring solidarity and social value

What counts as ‘the economy’? Conventional economic discussion often directs attention towards markets, paid employment, investment, productivity, and measures such as GDP. Yet much of the activity upon which individuals and communities depend takes place partly or wholly outside formal market exchange: caring for children and relatives, voluntary work, mutual aid, neighbourly support, subsistence activity, household labour, community organising, and the informal sharing of skills, time, and resources. Drawing upon insights from feminist economics, community practice, and the social and solidarity economy, this participatory workshop invites participants to question familiar assumptions...

What becomes possible when we stop asking only what something is worth in the market and begin asking what (and whom) our economy is actually for?

Participants will then investigate alternative ways of organising economic activity. These include co-operatives, mutual and community enterprises, community ownership, commons-based approaches, social enterprises, public and democratic ownership, local exchange, community wealth-building, and other forms of the social and solidarity economy. These are considered not as a single alternative blueprint, but as differing attempts to organise resources, production, ownership, and decision-making around social purpose, reciprocity, democracy, sustainability, and collective well-being. Drawing upon Paulo Freire’s pedagogy, the workshop treats economic understanding as a process of reading the...

What you learn

Analyse economic activity beyond formal market exchange, including the relationships between paid and unpaid work, care, voluntary activity, informal exchange and community life, and explain how different forms of value may be recognized or overlooked.
Problematize and analyze assumptions underlying concepts such as growth, productivity, efficiency, wealth and economic value, including tensions between market, social, public and ecological value.
Compare and critically evaluate different forms of ownership and economic organization, including selected social and solidarity economy approaches, in terms of power, participation, distribution, social purpose, sustainability and their potential limitations.
Develop and justify a contextually grounded proposal for strengthening social value, solidarity, democratic participation or community economic capacity, identifying relevant participants, resources, constraints and processes for continuing reflection and action.

Availability

For organizations: This workshop is available in virtual, in-person, or hybrid formats to meet diverse organizational needs and preferences. We can tailor the focus to your specific institutional context.
For individuals: We will run occasional virtual workshops, and you are encouraged to join the notification list to be informed of upcoming dates.

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Duration

You will continue to be registered in the course area for 3 months following the workshop.

Course Certificate

You will receive a certificate upon successful completion of the course.

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