The objective of this paper is to analyze processes and social structures that supported and conditioned the constitution and actuation of credit unions linked to the system Ecosol at Zona da Mata Mineira. Data collection occurred in 2010 in the municipalities where the Ecosol has service units, Araponga, Tombos, Espera Feliz, Divino and Simonésia, through participant observation, document analysis and application of semi-structured interviews. The main actors and factors identified as socio-political foundations of these cooperatives were: mystical and religious, introduced by sectors of the Catholic Church, which directly interfere in the social representations and symbolic manifestations that guided interventions for a change of reality; politics, marked by the union movement and party (Workers Party); and the technical and lifestyle, consolidated with the adoption of a project of sustainable agriculture and alternative development introduced by an NGO.
Credit unions; family farms; social network