Współczesne wyzwania nowej ekonomii społecznej
Contemporary challenges of the new social economy

Summary/Abstract: The term „social economy” arose in the nineteenth century and was used to describe the area of public activity not under the responsibility of the private sector or the public. Its actors pursue economic activity involving not just the maximization of profit, but also the implementation of social goals. In EU countries a „new social economy” should be connected primarily with the external impact of its players, reflected among others in activity for the benefit achieved by local communities or the environment outside of the organization. It is an expression of social policy reflected in an increased responsibility of not only activists, but also employers. The article assumes a leading research hypothesis indicating that the new social economy, through the entities representing it, is able to mitigate economic and social failures resulting from phenomena and processes which characterize market economies, regardless of the scale and form of their manifestation. Hence, among others, this article takes into account the social economy’s commitment to reducing market failures and stategenerated social pathologies in the development of civil societies and the formation of democratic attitudes at the macro and micro levels. At the same time, the article exposes some contemporary dilemmas of social economic entities which arise in relation to accepted constructive policies; versus their development in a developed market economy. In particular, this paper will focus on the idea of the actions of the social economy, its capabilities to meet capital needs, generate entrepreneurship and competitiveness as well as to indicate the direction of changes in an organization.

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