Social and Solidary Economy, Land Development and New Paradigms of Production and Consumption: is another development model possible?

In the current scenario, thinking about and discussing the possibility of a new development model is an opportune and pertinent task, but it is also daring and full of obstacles, which range from the theory-concept sphere, to the practical and ideological ones. As can be noticed, throughout the evolution of the capitalist production system, concurrently with the material, production and technological advances conceived, the generation of a mass of excluded and impoverished individuals and of a production and consumption pattern that neglected environmental preservation and corrupted the idea of « good living » was observed. Faced with this scenario, it is believed that there is space to promote social and solidary economy (SSE) practices and sustainability . This theme has been recently raised and it contributes greatly when constructing a sustainable development model. However, related studies are still very scarce, especially given the difficulty of measuring the sector (Tremblay 2009). Among the main attributes of the SSE, incorporating the question of sustainability as an inherent part of its proposals and of its development model is possible. With cooperation, self-management and solidarity based on mutual interests, common goals and efforts, together with a broad participation, it is possible to promote self-sustainable practices, capable of carrying out the production of goods and services with social and environmental responsibility (Morais, 2010). This study aims at fostering this discussion, in addition to analyzing some innovative land development experiments in Brazil, that fit the « new production and consumption paradigms » (Morais & Borges, 2009).