[Interview] The Core of the Social Solidarity Economy Lies in Building the Capacity to Address Social Challenges (Part 2)

 South Korea is facing multiple, overlapping social challenges, including regional depopulation, low birth rates and population aging, care crises, and the climate emergency. The social solidarity economy has often been discussed as a way to address these issues through business and market-based solutions. However, in Part 2 of this interview with Kim Wang-young, we take a slightly different perspective—one that moves beyond conventional expectations of how social problems should be “solved.”

 

Kim argues that the role of the social solidarity economy is not limited to encouraging consumers to purchase socially driven products or services. Instead, he emphasizes the importance of enabling citizens themselves to become active participants in addressing social challenges—learning together, engaging in dialogue, and collectively organizing responses. The capacities built through this process, he explains, can become a foundation that sustains society and offers a more fundamental way of confronting complex social issues.

 

He also stresses that while government policies and institutional support matter, education plays an even more critical role in ensuring the long-term sustainability of South Korea’s social solidarity economy ecosystem. This article explores how a slower, learning-centered approach can ultimately lead to deeper and more enduring forms of social change.

 

Read Part 1 of the Interview
[Interview] Why He Emphasizes “Education” in Cooperatives (Part 1)

 

A photo of CEO Kim Wang-young(Photo courtesy of Kim Wang-young)

Q. What role do you think the social solidarity economy can play in addressing South Korea’s major social challenges—such as regional decline, low birth rates and aging, care work, and the climate crisis?

 

A. I believe that discussions about the role of the social solidarity economy and cooperatives in addressing South Korea’s social challenges are already well established.

 

That said, I would like to explain this role from a slightly different perspective. The most important contribution of the social solidarity economy and cooperatives is not to become actors that directly “solve” specific social problems. Rather, it lies in building social capacity and deliberative democratic power—so that social crises are not simply shifted onto the state, the market, or a single actor, but are instead collectively learned about, discussed, organized around, and borne by those directly affected.

 

Most of the social challenges we face today cannot be adequately addressed through short-term policies or market logic alone. In this context, the social solidarity economy and cooperatives do not offer ready-made answers. Instead, they provide spaces where citizens can learn as stakeholders, make informed judgments, and collectively shape shared decisions. What accumulates through this process is not just business outcomes, but lived experiences of democracy—negotiating interests, managing conflict, and building consensus.

 

This approach may appear slow and, at times, inefficient. However, it is precisely through this slowness that society develops the capacity to take responsibility for its problems rather than outsourcing them. I believe this is the most fundamental and sustainable role that the social solidarity economy and cooperatives can play in South Korea—and an essential foundation for society to move forward.

 

Q. What do you think is most necessary for the sustainable growth of South Korea’s social economy ecosystem?

 

A. For South Korea’s social economy ecosystem to grow sustainably, what is most needed is a shift beyond survival-focused management or functional roles toward recognizing the social solidarity economy as an ecosystem of learning and democracy—and building educational and learning infrastructures that consistently support it.

 

Social economy organizations are inherently structures in which diverse stakeholders make decisions and share responsibility together. As a result, the ability to navigate conflict and build consensus—in other words, the capacity for democratic deliberation and decision-making—is crucial. These capacities cannot be created through manuals or short-term consulting. They emerge only through education, repeated learning, and accumulated experience that includes trial, error, and failure.

 

This requires moving beyond internal education within individual organizations to include learning networks that connect different sites of practice, educational spaces that bridge generations and sectors, and lifelong learning structures where activists and cooperative members can learn and grow together.

 

When the social solidarity economy is no longer viewed merely as a policy target or a subsidized sector, but rather as a social learning infrastructure that cultivates citizens capable of collectively grappling with societal crises, the ecosystem can grow more resilient—less vulnerable to policy shifts or passing trends.

 

Q. Why do you continue to work in the cooperative and social solidarity economy sector?

 

A. Before entering the social solidarity economy, my original dream was to become a pastor. Although I did not ultimately follow that path, my desire to walk closely with people’s lives—thinking together, and committing myself to restoring human dignity and meaning within communities—continues to guide my life.

 

I remain in this field because the social solidarity economy and cooperatives are where people striving to reclaim ownership over their lives and labor are most directly present. I believe that cooperatives and the social solidarity economy are not merely organizational forms or policy tools. Through direct participation and decision-making in one’s own life and work, they possess the power to transform people—and ultimately to lead toward emancipation.

 

I have also come to realize that the core of this transformation lies in educational spaces where people learn together.

 

Q. Do you have a message of encouragement for those working, in their own ways, to make the world a slightly better place?

 

A. I extend my deepest respect and solidarity to all of you who have chosen the path of the social solidarity economy and social innovation in your respective contexts. The reality we face is often slow, uncertain, and at times isolating. Yet I believe that our choices and practices are not acts of conformity to the existing order, but part of an ongoing process that enables better ways of living and makes the world more humane and beautiful.

 

Although we stand on different ground and face different challenges, we are undeniably connected. Social solidarity economy practitioners and social innovators around the world are already in solidarity simply through one another’s existence. Let us continue to ask questions, keep learning, and grow together—without giving up—as we walk this path side by side.

 

 

 

❓❔Do you have more questions for Mr. Kim Wang-young?

If this interview sparked your curiosity and you have additional questions, please send them to [email address].

We will collect your questions and address them in a follow-up interview.