ABSTRACT
This chapter will present four major case studies that exemplify solidarity economies. The concept of solidarity embraces those activities, organizations and networks that fall outside of the realms of the state and the market. Major functions of solidarity are defined as production, redistribution, workplace democracy, and labor solidarity. The cases covered in this chapter serve these functions at least partially, if not totally. The cases are diverse in terms of their country of origin, the economic field they operate in, their target groups, their agendas, and their strategies. What unites them is their local origin, their responsiveness to the social and economic repercussions of neoliberal globalization, and the alternatives they present for those who seek to opt out of the global market and the neoliberal state. The research for this chapter mainly benefited from secondary sources and official data. For three of the cases, from India, the US and Turkey, in-depth interviews have been conducted to expose the processes of mobilization, organization and outreach. The geographical diversity of the four cases has been a major methodological obstacle.
