IMPORTANTE NÃO É SABER AONDE CHEGAR, IMPORTANTE É A TRAJETÓRIA

Abstract

The title of this article refers to Paul Singer's phrase that summarizes a trajectory guided by the engagement of the economy in favor of the full development of society. And, to develop it, one of the elements he considered essential was the solidary economy, a concept that he develops in the texts that make up the book Solidarity economy: introduction, history and the Brazilian experience. Paul Singer encountered the solidary economy older than 60 and it was a definitive encounter, which would make him recover and reinvent several aspects of his intellectual production, as well as his trajectory as a public manager and his political militancy. The nine texts presented in this article were written between 2001 and 2013 and, as a whole, offer a broad view of the principles, concepts and history of solidarity economy in the world, using the Brazilian experience as a reference for public policies committed to overcoming the poverty and heteronomy at work, strengthening democracy and achieving a better life for all. In these articles, Singer writes about self-management as a human development and solidary economy as a result of organized civil society, a mode of production that aims to confront capitalism. Thus, he confirms the importance of experiences through the learning that they provide workers when they collectively assume the management of productive undertakings and operate them according to democratic and egalitarian principles. According to Paul Singer, the flourishing of a profusion of solidary or social or human economies is the guarantee of their viability, since the vocation of humanity is not uniformity.