Three theoretical approaches - Third sector/Non profit sector; Social Economy; Solidarity Economy

The Third sector (Tiers secteur) or non profit sector

Since the 1980s, there has been a revival of interest in organisations that are neither public nor private for-profit; the most widespread term for them is the “third sector”. The American approach which is dominant internationally in this field, defines this third sector as the sector comprising all non-profit organisations.

The “non-profit sector” approach is based on the neo-classical economy perspective and apprehends the non-profit organizations through market failures in the provision of individual services and through state failures in the provision of collective services. This approach supposes a separation between these three "sectors" and a hierarchisation among these, the non-profit sector being adopted as a second-rank or third-rank option when the solutions provided by the market and the state prove inadequate.

(…) But such a conception is invalidated by history, associationism having pre-existed public intervention – hence the necessary shift towards conceptions based on other prerequisites, which do not overlook a more than two century-long history in Europe and in the world. In this regard, a more historical perspective allowed to draw two complementary conceptions: the social economy and the solidarity economy. On the theoretical level, the contributions of both heterodox economics and sociology converge to propose the structuring importance of solidarity and a more open conceptualisation of the interdependence between public action and associative action present in both concepts.

Note: Third sector or non profit sector is still used by researchers as a synonym of social or solidarity economy.