The solidarity economy can be considered an alternative to generate income, face poverty and break the social logic of inequalities, since it promotes the protagonism of the poor, needed by political interventions in this field to achieve efficiency. The article discusses this subject by analyzing evidences brought up by qualitative researches and by the final data of the first Brazilian national mapping of solidarity economy. Comparing the general characteristics of Brazilian companies registered in the national statistics with the solidarity economy enterprises, certain singularities stand up, such as the tendency of the solidarity enterprises to protect jobs and hold equalitarian principles regarding income and benefits arising from their economic activities. This regime of equality is a component of their specific social production structure.
Solidarity economy; enterprises; equality; income; work