The current solidary economy phenomenon reintroduced the debate on comparative advantages of the collective formats of work management and organization. In order to contribute on the subject, through the articulation between the empirical research and the theoretical reflection, this work analyzes the data of a qualitative inquiry on experiences of solidary economy, also diachronically focusing its dynamic factors, by means of the comparison between results of similar previous researches, carried through in past years. By doing so, this paper considers part of the extensive bibliography on the pros and cons of self-management and the cooperation within economic enterprises. The main stream of the developed argument recognizes the indispensable role of the motivations, the participation and the cooperation. At the same time, it reviews the efficiency concept, pointing out the presence of rationality in work community, established in circuits of reciprocity of symbolic and projective content, which determine the behaviors and dilute the borders between individual and collective interests.
solidary economy; cooperative work; productive rationality