Dimensions of Social and Solidarity Economy Sector - Statistics of the Social Economy in the Czech Republi
Abstract
The social and solidarity economy sector is still a new topic in the Czech Republic, though the fact that more than 230 declare themselves officially as social entrepreneurship. The terms "social and solidarity economy sector" and "social enterprise as subjects of social and solidarity economy sector" are used by academics, particularly at the Faculty of Humanities of Charles University in Prague also.
Teacher and researchers from this department work on the definition of the social and solidarity economy sector nowadays. Social enterprises in the Czech Republic are diverse by different legal forms (business, self-employed, cooperatives, non-profit organizations, religious society).
They operate in different areas, and a large number of them report following the principles defined in the framework of the project ICSEM EMES European Research Society. The use two current foreign approaches to define the social economy and social enterprises: the legal/institutional approach and the normative approach.
Based on the results of the quantitative analysis of semi-structured questionnaires, it was found that five factors are important to understand the status and development of social enterprise:. The influence of foreign definitions, important for working out the Czech definition of SE, . "Bottom-up" initiatives of the civic sector (associative model of SE), . "Bottom-up" initiatives of the cooperative sector (cooperative model of SE), . "Bottom-up" initiatives of the commercial sector (business model of SE),.
The impact of the European environment (WISE model).