Navigating Between Market and Solidarity: The Strategies of Circular Organizations in the Social and Solidarity Economy

This article explores how circular enterprises navigate the tensions between market logics and social ambitions by mobilizing the framework of the Social and Solidarity Economy. While the circular economy is promoted as a response to environmental crises, it has been criticized for its technicist orientation and lack of attention to social issues. In contrast, social and solidarity economy emphasizes democratic governance and prioritizes social aims over profit, offering fertile ground for rethinking circular economy as a "strong circular economy." Drawing on nineteen interviews and fifteen hours of participant observation with entrepreneurs from Les Boucles, an incubation program in Lyon dedicated to circular and social and solidarity economy organizations, we identify four structuring tensions: value proposition, relations with private firms, financial and legal choices, and integration of the social dimension. Our findings reveal three organizational profiles—social-oriented, business-oriented, and a third path—that develop differentiated strategies. We show how fragile, yet innovative compromises emerge at the intersection of circular economy and social and solidarity economy.