ABSTRACT
In France, the term ‘social economy’ refers to co-operatives, mutual societies and those associations with an economic dimension1 which altogether represent a total of around 1.7 million jobs (Bidet 1997). The components of the social economy have underlying similarities because they come from the same original modern associationism which appeared in the first half of the nineteenth century. They were all citizenship-related and fundamentally socio-political but the various legal statuses defined during the years 1890 to 1920 led to quite distinct forms of development. Co-operatives became part of the market economy and, after a period between the wars, during which there was a division of labour between the capitalist and co-operative sectors, competition emerged in the same fields of activity. On the other hand, the mutual societies focused on less commercial activities, managing health insurance schemes and then providing supplementary cover for the same risks when social security was made widely available to the population (Manoa, Rault and Vienney 1992). Moreover associations that had become involved in the provision of services drew support from the welfare state after the Second World War, while taking on tasks associated with public responsibilities2 (Demoustier, Hofman and Ramisse 1996).
