Work and creativity: understanding the contribution of the social and solidarity economy in utopian workplaces[Travail et créativité : comprendre l'apport de l'économie sociale et solidaire dans les lieux de travail à visée utopique AMORCE 2022, INCIAM]

In the field of the social and solidarity economy (SSE) - whose roots can be found as early as the 19th century in the tradition of the associationist movement centred on autonomy and emancipation through work and which is now governed by the 2014 law - organisations and the sense of work seem to be driven jointly by intrinsic values of the collective project, original practices and a vision of social transformation. From WISE to multi-stakeholder organisations and salaried entrepreneurs, new organisational models and forms of work are emerging as inspiring objects that hold out the promise of emancipation and alternatives. They are workplaces with an utopian purpose. We consider utopia as a gap between the present and the future (Duverger, 2021). In a grassroots perspective, we observe ordinary practices of those who decide to join forces to carry out a project with an utopian aim (Desroches, 1991). This approach through the practices and through the narrative given by the actors who became authors, allows us to deconstruct the myths and to bring out the contradictions and conflicts (Blin et al., 2020). From this perspective, how can we observe and analyse the forms of work both at the level of the organisations and the place of the acting subjects? And what role do forms of creativity that promote emancipation play in the organisation of work? What are its spaces and the conditions of its emergence and durability? Are its promises sustainably translated into alternatives and at what cost? In order to question the forms of cooperation, mutualisation, autonomy and democratisation of work, this project questions three dimensions: 1) The governance in order to understand how and to what extent they impact both the work of the organisation and the activity and creativity of employees. 2) The organisation of work and the choice of management or self-management adopted by questioning its capacity to distance itself from the dominant models (from the liberated company to the individualisation of work and its performative dimensions) 3) Opportunities for self-building/emancipation in the workplace through creative expressions of autonomy, forms of cooperation and mutualisation. This project focused on 5 experiences, anchored in Marseille: the Espaces Éducatifs Bricabracs, La Friche de la Belle de Mai, Acta Vista, Tête de l'Art and Scop Ti. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)