ABSTRACT
The historical context in which social enterprises have emerged and developed in Mexico has led to many different empirical concepts being used, confusions and overlapping between these concepts and non-consistency between formulation in various laws and concrete use by various Mexican agencies. This chapter reviews the legal forms recognised in the Ley de la Economia Social y Solidaria (LESS) and in the Catalogo de organismos del sector social de la economia. The LESS lists the types of organisation that make up the social sector of the economy: ejidos; communities; organisations of workers; cooperatives; and companies belonging largely or solely to workers. The cooperative society is a form of social organisation composed of individuals and based on common interests and on principles of solidarity, own efforts and mutual help; it aims to meet individual and collective needs through economic activities of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.
