ABSTRACT
Social economy's historical origin matches the transition period between the Ancient Regime and Modernity. The process has been observed from two perspectives: the emergence of voluntary associations in the continuity of premodern institutions and their involvement in political massification during the liberalism crisis. However, the connections between the two processes are rarely considered. By analysing institutional evolution and social mobilisation, this chapter explains how locally based and professional associations’ changes relate to the social movements’ jump of scale and politicisation. Evidence to support this analysis was collected from different primary sources: bylaws and other normative documents, associative press, minutes, and resolutions of associative congresses. This long duration and connected perspective reveal that social economy advent results from the intersection of a bottom-up movement, the resilience and adaptation of traditional grassroots reciprocity, with top-down innovations determined by the circulation of new associative models among the literate elites and European states. These connections are fundamental to understanding the origin and nature of social economy.
