22
R. F. Barreiros et al.
3 The Cooperative Movement
The attitude of cooperation has accompanied humanity since its inception. Bialoskorski Neto (2012) mentions cooperative actions since the beginning of civilization,
from ancient civilizations, such as the Babylonians, as well as the middle and modern
ages, reaching the contemporary age. For Engelhardt (1994), since human civilization began to be established, first business units based on associations of people under
the aegis of communities have developed in various parts of the world.
Ostrom (2009) states that the theory of collective action is relevant to the study of
cooperation in various contexts. The cooperation (or lack of this) in collective action
situations is a very common variable in the work of the social sciences. One cannot
study life within a social group without examining how individual actors deal with
problems related to collective objectives.
Bialoskorski Neto (2012) reports that the cooperative movement, as currently
disseminated, originated from ideas of the associationist utopian socialist economic
school, in reaction to the proletarianization provoked by the Industrial Revolution
in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when it began to take place
the economic rise of a small part of the population—the businessmen—while the
workers lived in poverty. This economic school, whose principal representatives
were Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, Louis Blanc, and William King, argued that a
co-ownership of the production factors could replace the market. In this sense, the
Utopian socialist school differed from the socialist scientific school, which advocated
the simple suppression of private property, with the compulsory participation of
individuals in a new community system, with the centralization of planning by the
state.
Among the economists of the associationist utopian socialist school, it was Robert
Owen’s ideas that underpinned the genesis of the cooperative doctrine, which inspired
the emergence in 1844 of The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, a consumer
cooperative, considered the first cooperative of the modern cooperative movement.
The principles adopted by the Rochdale pioneers were as follows: (Engelhardt 1994).
(a) democratic principles and procedures;
(b) open membership;
(c) limited interest rates on share capital;
(d) refunds according to the value of individual purchases;
(e) accumulation of a reserve fund;
(f) payment in cash upon receipt of goods;
(g) further education for members;
(h) religious and political neutrality.
The success of the Rochdale cooperative inspired the spread of its model
throughout Europe, kicking off the modern cooperative movement. According to
Engelhardt (1994), in 1849, the first cooperative of artisans arose in Germany, based
on the Schulze-Delitzsch model. In 1885, the movement based on this model, whose
principles are listed below, consisted of 922 loan associations with 466,575 members:
R. F. Barreiros et al.
3 The Cooperative Movement
The attitude of cooperation has accompanied humanity since its inception. Bialoskorski Neto (2012) mentions cooperative actions since the beginning of civilization,
from ancient civilizations, such as the Babylonians, as well as the middle and modern
ages, reaching the contemporary age. For Engelhardt (1994), since human civilization began to be established, first business units based on associations of people under
the aegis of communities have developed in various parts of the world.
Ostrom (2009) states that the theory of collective action is relevant to the study of
cooperation in various contexts. The cooperation (or lack of this) in collective action
situations is a very common variable in the work of the social sciences. One cannot
study life within a social group without examining how individual actors deal with
problems related to collective objectives.
Bialoskorski Neto (2012) reports that the cooperative movement, as currently
disseminated, originated from ideas of the associationist utopian socialist economic
school, in reaction to the proletarianization provoked by the Industrial Revolution
in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when it began to take place
the economic rise of a small part of the population—the businessmen—while the
workers lived in poverty. This economic school, whose principal representatives
were Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, Louis Blanc, and William King, argued that a
co-ownership of the production factors could replace the market. In this sense, the
Utopian socialist school differed from the socialist scientific school, which advocated
the simple suppression of private property, with the compulsory participation of
individuals in a new community system, with the centralization of planning by the
state.
Among the economists of the associationist utopian socialist school, it was Robert
Owen’s ideas that underpinned the genesis of the cooperative doctrine, which inspired
the emergence in 1844 of The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, a consumer
cooperative, considered the first cooperative of the modern cooperative movement.
The principles adopted by the Rochdale pioneers were as follows: (Engelhardt 1994).
(a) democratic principles and procedures;
(b) open membership;
(c) limited interest rates on share capital;
(d) refunds according to the value of individual purchases;
(e) accumulation of a reserve fund;
(f) payment in cash upon receipt of goods;
(g) further education for members;
(h) religious and political neutrality.
The success of the Rochdale cooperative inspired the spread of its model
throughout Europe, kicking off the modern cooperative movement. According to
Engelhardt (1994), in 1849, the first cooperative of artisans arose in Germany, based
on the Schulze-Delitzsch model. In 1885, the movement based on this model, whose
principles are listed below, consisted of 922 loan associations with 466,575 members: