In a time of unprecedented social disruption, the cooperative movement is poised to take center stage as a way to combat the scourge of rising inequality and poverty.
But the cooperative ethos of mutual aid and cooperation, as well as its potential to foster new kinds of economic activity, have been largely ignored in the United States.
That’s not surprising given that the cooperative model has been around for centuries, but it’s not quite clear how many people understand the cooperative vision of collective decision-making as it applies to today’s society.
What is clear is that many workers who would otherwise support the cooperative spirit of solidarity are turning to it as a means to fight for better working conditions.
In a new book coauthored with Harvard Business School professor Eric Balogh, The Cooperative State: How the Cooperatives Revolution Is Changing the Workplace, co-author Peter S. Brown explores the cooperative mentality of the cooperative.
“Many people are looking to the cooperative as a kind of counter-weight to the more traditional, hierarchic workplace model,” he told us.
“It seems to be a kind, but not a dominant, force in the economy.
We’re not seeing it in the marketplace.”
In a sense, it’s working: The Cooperative Economy has become a new norm in the U.S. It’s a way for workers to support each other while working, and it’s also a way of organizing the economy so that it reflects our values and our values systems.
“Cooperatives are not only a way that we can live in this very different world that we’re living in,” Brown said.
“They’re a way in which we can make a better world.”
Brown and his co-authors also argue that cooperative efforts are not merely about solidarity; they also serve to encourage more collaborative behavior in the workplace.
In one recent experiment, a cooperative company decided to pay a worker a wage based on her contribution to the business.
The worker received a lump sum that matched her wage.
It also provided the worker with financial incentives to spend more time with her coworkers.
In another experiment, the worker was paid a salary for working at a company that offered a bonus program.
The company also encouraged employees to spend time with one another.
“A lot of the incentives were there to be social and to work,” Brown told us, adding that they may also be tied to employee productivity.
The cooperative company then set aside money to help the worker’s family out, and the bonus payments were sent to the family.
“That’s what the co-op is all about: helping people and families to do better,” he said.
Brown’s book provides a detailed overview of cooperative economies, and he says they are evolving as new models are being explored and adopted by firms.
In other words, he’s talking about a whole range of things that we’ve never seen before in the cooperative world.
Cooperative organizations are gaining a lot of traction in the labor movement, and this has led to a revival of worker solidarity and cooperative principles as a form of worker organization.
“The idea that there are so many different forms of cooperative is something that we don’t see enough of,” he explained.
“And I think it’s a good thing because it shows that cooperatives are very much alive and kicking.”
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To learn more about the book, check out its website, the links below, or check out our feature on the cooperative economy.