Global and integration processes as well as the social trends of modern democracy of the last century (and also the current one) caused that Europe has been going through the crucial changes in both economy and social sphere. This process combines old problems with new ones. The biggest and the most permanent problem of socio-economy is unemployment, which determines the growth of poverty and then unacceptable rise of social exclusion of population. The aim of this paper is to define basic issues of development in the field of social economy as a perspective interdisciplinary scientific field. Social economy gives us the alternative models and practical solutions of proposed issues. For the first time we tried to define fundamental features of social economy - its aims, subject, principles and scientific methods and we suggest its future development.
The study’s aim is to contribute the conceptualization processes framing the phenomenon of social economy and introduce the issue to our professional context. Social economy, as an area connecting social aims and entrepreneurial procedures, has a long history. The current initiatives of social economy are a response to the welfare state crisis, new social risks and the crisis of employed society. The definition of social economy comes from research activities of the European research net EMES and the Said Business School of Oxford University. The author’s effort is focused on identifying the main assumptions for establishing these social innovations. The conclusion focuses on allocating opportunities for social entrepreneurship in the public sphere and public policies in Slovakia (employment policy, social inclusion policy and local social development, the delivering of public and social services, and civic participation).
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