Top-down empowerment? The construction of the social economy in the field of social service provision

This study examines the development of the social economy in South Korea, focusing on the experiences of marginalised informal social service providers that have newly incorporated as social economy organisations (SEOs) through top-down government policies. Drawing on in-depth interviews with organisers of new SEOs as well as other related actors, the study explores their motivations, challenges, and newly constructed values. While extant studies on the social economy in Korea characterise it as government-led or highlight how already politicised social economy actors resist against the state and market, this study shows how even top-down policies can catalyse the self-awareness of marginalised actors by bringing into focus the contradictions between government expectations and their lived experiences. This leads them to reinterpret their roles in ways that transcend government intentions.