Revitalizing Korea’s Social and Solidarity Economy and Realizing a Basic Society (Part 1)

Mutual growth between the Basic Society and the Social and Solidarity Economy can contribute to realizing a Basic Society.(Photo by Milly) 

 One of the core policy priorities of the South Korean government is the realization of a “Basic Society.”

 

This vision is a strategic response to the major challenges currently facing Korean society, including the growing demand for care, inequality, regional decline, low birth rates and population aging, and the climate crisis. In particular, as it has become increasingly difficult to ensure sustainable growth through existing welfare policies alone, the current administration’s Basic Society agenda can be understood as an effort to guarantee human dignity for all citizens of Korea. In this context, the revitalization of the social and solidarity economy has been emphasized as a key strategy for realizing a Basic Society.

 

⭐However, it is important to note that Basic Society policies are not simply support measures for the social and solidarity economy. Rather, the Basic Society and the social and solidarity economy can coexist and grow together through a mutually complementary relationship.

 

This article explores the concept of the Basic Society—one of Korea’s major contemporary policy directions—and examines the role of the social and solidarity economy as a strategy for realizing and expanding this vision.

 

The Concept of a Basic Society

 

A Basic Society refers to a society in which the state and society institutionally guarantee the basic conditions of life. It is a concept in which the state, the market, and citizens collectively ensure the foundations of everyday life.

 

In other words, a Basic Society goes beyond traditional welfare and represents a framework for social innovation that secures the foundations of life itself. It envisions a “universal basic rights society” in which all citizens can stably enjoy essential conditions of life such as education, care, housing, and income.

 

A Basic Society operates based on the following four core principles:

👉Justice as Fairness

Correcting inequalities at the starting line and realizing a just society through fair institutions and equal opportunities.

👉Deepened Democracy

Everyday democracy in which residents participate not merely as policy beneficiaries, but as designers and implementers.
 

👉Capability Approach

A people-centered society that strengthens individuals’ capacity—the “ability to act”—to design their own lives.
 

👉Sustainability

Building a sustainable social system that considers the well-being of both present and future generations.

 

When these four principles work in harmony, a Basic Society can be completed as a new social contract in which welfare and growth, freedom and equality, function together.

 

The State Cannot Fill Every Gap on the Ground

 

Over the years, the government has implemented various policies to guarantee the basic conditions of human life. However, policies inevitably face limitations in terms of proximity to the field and long-term continuity. At the same time, addressing these issues solely at the community or field level also has clear limitations. As a result, the question inevitably arises: who will fill the gap between the state and the market?

 

The Social and Solidarity Economy at the Intersection of the Public and the Private

 

One of the defining characteristics of the social and solidarity economy is that it plays a public role while remaining closely connected to the market—that is, to real-life contexts and local communities. Employment, care, housing, and responses to the climate crisis are areas in which the social and solidarity economy has long been active. What is particularly significant is that it transforms vulnerable groups—traditionally viewed as recipients of welfare—into active participants and agents of social life.

 

Here, the Basic Society’s vision of a “society of shared responsibility” naturally aligns with the social and solidarity economy’s core value of a “collectively governed and decision-making economy.”

 

For this reason, the social and solidarity economy is well suited to serve as an implementing actor of the Basic Society. The realization of a Basic Society requires the activation of the social and solidarity economy. As discussed above, Basic Society policies should not be understood as support measures for the social and solidarity economy, but rather as the formation of a mutually complementary relationship aimed at realizing a Basic Society.

 

👀😎In the next installment, we will discuss the policy direction of the Basic Society in greater detail and explore how it can coexist and grow alongside the social and solidarity economy

👉Read Part 2

Strategies for Synergy Between Basic Society Policies and the Social and Solidarity Economy (Part 2)

Reference : Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency, Jinseok Kim, Head of the Cooperatives Division