Social and Solidarity Economy scale beyond contradictions: The case of the actors of the Alternative Community Commercialization Network (Red Comal) in Honduras

This research paper looks at Comal, a large Honduran Social and Solidari-ty Economy (SSE) network of peasants that supports the commercialization of its members‟ products since 1995. The paper sets out two interrelated objec-tives. Firstly, I aim to understand how Comal‟s members live and cope with the contradictions between their collective values and their practices. Secondly, I explore how these contradictions are related to Comal‟s large-scale, mirroring the challenges of growth in SSE. Taking an ethnographic approach, the focus of analysis is Comal‟s actors‟ subjective narratives and practices. The research showed that Comal‟s mem-bers‟ experiences of contradictions can be explained by centralization and pro-fessionalization processes related to large-scale. Thus, Comal‟s actors also have a role in making sense of and shaping these contradictions by (re)adjusting their SSE principles and practices, as analyzed through two examples. Drawing on literature about social organizations and diverse economic re-lations and practices, this research is brought into conversations about struc-ture and agency in the Social and Solidarity Economy. In contrast to what is implied in some SSE debates, I will argue that SSE organizations are not bound to “degenerate” when they become big. Contradictions triggered by up-scaling can be interpreted not as “negative” outcomes of growth but rather as a dynamic process. By exploring what I call “the social life of contradictions”, it became clear that SSE organizations are a nuanced mixture of co-existing prin-ciples and practices, and their members, as SSE agents, make sense and shape their perceived contradictions. It implies that (re)embedding the local economy in a SSE project is a messy process never completely achieved and not free from inconsistencies. This hints at a more nuanced interpretation of challenges and responses of how SSE projects are up-scaled and sustained while holding its core principles and objectives.