Civilizational Imperative of Social Economy

In recent decades, the socialization of economic development has become one of the key trends in globalization and, at the same time, a multilevel, structured and institutionalized process. Theoretical approaches to the essential identification of the social economy are generalized and a multi-criteria format of evolution of its models is proposed, based on social justice, responsibility and solidarity, social mentality and culture, social unity and optimism, social security, climate and comfort. The current configuration of the sustainable development paradigm with its subjective determination is outlined. The results of cluster modeling according to global indices of human development, social process, economic freedom, well-being of the elderly, happy planet, happiness and gender gap are presented. Social attention is paid to the empirical comparison of countries in terms of social optimism using global indices of happiness and a happy planet. The results of the empirical analysis are summarized in the disposition of the Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, continental, Mediterranean and transitive models of the social economy, which need qualitative renewal in the process of their global scaling.