Challenging the degeneration thesis: the role of democracy in worker cooperatives?
This paper uses data collected through written narratives, focus groups and participant observation in three small UK worker cooperatives to investigate the role of democracy in maintaining cooperatives’ dual social-economic characteristic and resisting degeneration. More specifically, it adds to li...
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| Format: | Article |
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European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41739/ |
| _version_ | 1848796342616326144 |
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| author | Langmead, Kiri |
| author_facet | Langmead, Kiri |
| author_sort | Langmead, Kiri |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This paper uses data collected through written narratives, focus groups and participant observation in three small UK worker cooperatives to investigate the role of democracy in maintaining cooperatives’ dual social-economic characteristic and resisting degeneration. More specifically, it adds to limited empirical literature countering the degeneration thesis by arguing that ongoing processes of individual-collective alignment, understood as central to the practice of democracy, help cooperatives to: balance varying and conflicting needs and aims; challenge the assumption underpinning the degeneration thesis; and transform degenerative “risks” into creative and productive spaces where new meanings and practices can be formed. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:46:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-41739 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:46:28Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-417392020-05-04T18:33:25Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41739/ Challenging the degeneration thesis: the role of democracy in worker cooperatives? Langmead, Kiri This paper uses data collected through written narratives, focus groups and participant observation in three small UK worker cooperatives to investigate the role of democracy in maintaining cooperatives’ dual social-economic characteristic and resisting degeneration. More specifically, it adds to limited empirical literature countering the degeneration thesis by arguing that ongoing processes of individual-collective alignment, understood as central to the practice of democracy, help cooperatives to: balance varying and conflicting needs and aims; challenge the assumption underpinning the degeneration thesis; and transform degenerative “risks” into creative and productive spaces where new meanings and practices can be formed. European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises 2017-02-27 Article PeerReviewed Langmead, Kiri (2017) Challenging the degeneration thesis: the role of democracy in worker cooperatives? Journal of Entrpreneurial and Organizational Diversity, 5 (1). pp. 79-98. ISSN 2281-8642 Worker Cooperative Degeneration thesis Democracy Alternative economy Social-economic Characteristic Dual Characteristic Workplace democracy Cooperative http://www.euricse.eu/jeod_articles/challenging-the-degeneration-thesis-the-role-of-democracy-in-worker-cooperatives/ doi:10.5947/jeod.2016.005 doi:10.5947/jeod.2016.005 |
| spellingShingle | Worker Cooperative Degeneration thesis Democracy Alternative economy Social-economic Characteristic Dual Characteristic Workplace democracy Cooperative Langmead, Kiri Challenging the degeneration thesis: the role of democracy in worker cooperatives? |
| title | Challenging the degeneration thesis: the role of democracy in worker cooperatives? |
| title_full | Challenging the degeneration thesis: the role of democracy in worker cooperatives? |
| title_fullStr | Challenging the degeneration thesis: the role of democracy in worker cooperatives? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Challenging the degeneration thesis: the role of democracy in worker cooperatives? |
| title_short | Challenging the degeneration thesis: the role of democracy in worker cooperatives? |
| title_sort | challenging the degeneration thesis: the role of democracy in worker cooperatives? |
| topic | Worker Cooperative Degeneration thesis Democracy Alternative economy Social-economic Characteristic Dual Characteristic Workplace democracy Cooperative |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41739/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41739/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41739/ |