The Philippine social economy: a case study

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)The overarching purpose of the study is to develop an in-depth understanding of the social economy and its contribution to deepening economic democracy and promoting sustainable social development. To provide internationally comparable data on the social economy and the organisations that comprised it, the study undertook a comprehensive review of the literature on the social economy, social enterprise (SE), and fair trade organisations (FTOs) in Europe and the UK, USA and Australia. The study used a mixed method, complex multi-layered case study approach to understand the Philippine social economy and experiences of social enterprises and SE FTOs. By using secondary data analysis, the study mined archived data on the country’s civil society and socioeconomic indicators from official and NGO sources to generate a profile of the Philippine social economy. Data were collected from two Case Study groups to illuminate the experiences of Philippine social enterprises and how these translated into their vision, mission and goals (VMG) of equitable sustainable development. The data collection method blended documentary or secondary analysis, focused interviews, fieldwork observation, focus group discussions, and daily journal keeping. The review of literature revealed that social enterprise models from developed Western contexts influenced forms of Philippine social enterprise. The review showed two dominant ideological strands in social enterprise discourse: one that promoted it as an alternative to the unfettered market and another that viewed it as a solution to neoliberalism’s twin crisis of legitimacy and accumulation. The first was represented by social science academics and supporters of social economy organisations, such as EMES, while the second was represented by Western governments, such as the EU, the UK, private philanthropic foundations, and social entrepreneurship networks. While there was still an ongoing debate in the literature about the nature of the social economy and social enterprise, other commentators believed that this provided the space and opportunity to be entrepreneurial, i.e., to be creative academically and not be constrained by the language of business and economics. European researchers, however, provided a first unifying step towards a theory of social economy through the plural economy or tripolar approach and a theory of social enterprise through the EMES social enterprise (EMES SE) concept. The profiling of the Philippine social economy showed a pronounced blurring of boundaries among the three poles of the economy and a range of social actors that included not only NGOs and people’s organisations but also INGOs, ODA donor governments and public sector agencies. Given the dual character of the economy, the Philippine social economy had limited impact in deepening economic democracy and promoting sustainable social development. The social economy, however, was found to be the glue that held Philippine society together, while the Filipino Diaspora’s annual foreign remittances kept it alive. The experiences of participants showed the limited reach and scope of social enterprise. While they benefited a number of marginalised communities and producers, they were constrained by the nature of the capitalist market itself. Due to market isomorphism, translating their VMGs into practice was found to be problematic and challenging. The European plural economy framework showed the limits of the social economy against the dominant neoliberal market model. This study makes significant contributions to the fields of economic sociology, social economy, and social enterprise development. As a mixed method, country comparative study, it adds to an in-depth understanding of the social economy, fair trade market, and social enterprise phenomena in selected developed countries and the Philippines. It adds to the conversation about the unsustainability of economic growth in the West, while the rest of the world is mired in poverty and political strife