ABSTRACT
International comparisons confirm that the approach to insertion of disadvantaged workers into the labour market through economic activity has taken root. This chapter reviews the hypothesis of an evolution of the third sector and a new social economy because the insertion initiatives provide an opportunity to re-examine these two traditions of third sector and social economy. It is specially interesting because it also gives some impulse to analyse the possible interactions between these two approaches in the light of new phenomena. The nature of the target groups for insertion initiatives raises questions about the two dynamics operating in the third sector (mutual aid and general interest). But the differences between current and earlier models of the social economy are not limited to these questions. When the ability of the third sector to maintain its own identity is questioned, a new generation is emerging, stressing the limitations of previous forms of synergy between the state and the market.
