▶ Four parts:
1. Take a step back and look at the origins and nature
of our human capacity to co-operate for common
good
2. The ‘Big Society’ – what is meant by the ‘Big
Society’ – the three sectors of a mature economy
3. An introduction to the Co-operative movement, its
origins and the scale of Co-operative enterprise
nationally and internationally
4. A critique of ‘Big Society’ rhetoric and reality
Take a step back into dangerous territory and look
at the nature of human society (“Big” and small):
‘The Third Estate’
The Co-operative
Party 1999
Take a step back into dangerous territory and look
at the nature of human society (“Big” and small):
▶ Two fundamental, scientific, views of the nature of human
society:
o Huxley/Darwin – nature is “red in tooth and claw”,
naturally competitive.
o Kropotkin – nature is essentially co-operative –
species survive and thrive through co-operating with
each other.
▶ Theological views?
o Determinist – total submission to the will of the deity
o Redemptionist – humankind has fallen from divine
grace, through original sin, and can only be redeemed
by repentance and acceptance of divine law and order
the third estate
Competition v. Co-operation
nature is nasty v. nature is nice
Darwin/Huxley = mankind’s natural state is
constant conflict unless tamed by society,
nature is fundamentally red in tooth and
claw
Kropotkin/Russeau = mankind is a noble
savage, corrupted by human society, nature
is fundamentally co-operative
the third estate
The prisoner’s dilemma - the classical problem in Game Theory:
Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient
evidence for a conviction, and, having separated the prisoners, visit each
of them to offer the same deal:

If one testifies for the prosecution against the other (defects) and the
other remains silent (co-operates), the defector goes free and the
silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence.

If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months
in jail for a minor charge.

If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence.
Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent.
Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal
before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act?
the third estate
The classical prisoner's dilemma can be summarized thus:
Prisoner B Stays Silent
Prisoner B Betrays
Prisoner A Stays Silent
Each serves 6 months
Prisoner A: 10 years
Prisoner B: goes free
Prisoner A Betrays
Prisoner A: goes free
Prisoner B: 10 years
Each serves 5 years
In this game, regardless of what the opponent chooses, each player always
receives a higher payoff (lesser sentence) by betraying; that is to say that betraying
is the strictly dominant strategy.
the third estate
Game theory and the iterative prisoner’s dilemma:
 Individuals tend to behave in one of 4 ways:
 Hedonists
 Suckers
 Defectors
 Genuine Co-operators
Marcus Frean at Cambridge University has shown, in his Game
Theory programme ‘Firm but Fair’ that Co-operators always win in
a series of iterative interactions of indeterminate length.



Trust is the currency
of co-operation
Co-operation
depends on a series
of human interactions
Co-operation is hard
wired into our genes
the third estate
Matt Ridley: the Origins of Virtue
“The roots of social order are in our heads, where we
possess the instinctive capacities for creating not a
perfectly harmonious and virtuous society, but a better
one than we have at present. We must build our
institutions in such a way that they draw out those
instincts. Just as trade between countries is the best
recipe for friendship between them, so exchange between
empowered and enfranchised individuals is the best recipe
for co-operation … that is the raw material of trust and
trust is the foundation of virtue.”
the third estate
Matt Ridley: the Origins of Virtue
“Human beings have some instincts that foster the
greater good and others that foster self-interested
and anti social behaviour. We must design a
society that encourages the former and
discourages the latter.”
the third estate
It is: “a radical Third Way of looking at social and
economic policy issues. It is founded on the valuable
insights evolutionary biology has given us into the
origins of human virtue and co-operation. It also
permits us to enter into a new political debate, one
that seeks to redefine the role of politics and
government and to define, in a new way, the
appropriate role for and power of the state as that
which encourages mutual social and economic
outcomes”
David Rodgers: The Third Estate 1999
George Price and the Price Equation:
the Secondary Theorem of Natural Selection
altruism is the pinnacle of
humanity's capacity to act
co-operatively for the benefit
of others
What is meant by the ‘Big Society’ three sectors of a mature economy
“Too much has been imposed from above,
when experience shows that success depends
on communities themselves having the power
and taking the responsibility.
It’s no good officials in Whitehall or even the
Town Hall telling people what is needed in their
street.”
…. everyone has a stake based on
equal rights and where they pay their
dues by exercising responsibility in
return, and where local communities
shape their own futures.
“The Big Society is about a huge culture change…
…where people, in their everyday lives, in their
homes, in their neighbourhoods, in their workplace…
…don’t always turn to officials, local authorities or
central government for answers to the problems they
face …
…but instead feel both free and powerful enough to
help themselves and their own communities.
It’s about people setting up great new schools. Businesses
helping people getting trained for work. Charities working to
rehabilitate offenders.
It’s about liberation –the biggest, most dramatic
redistribution of power from elites in Whitehall to the man
and woman on the street”.
Prime Minister David Cameron MP, 19 July 2010
1:
2:
3:
4:
“it is a fig-leaf for cuts’ (Caroline Flint MP – Shadow
Secretary of State for Communities and Local
Government)
it is a cynical attempt to move into a traditional areas
of Labour politics as part of attempts to hold the political
centre ground and gain/retain the support of swing voters
the Government’s enthusiasm is a rational and
welcome step on the road to the further full privatisation
of public services (Financial Times editorial,
16 February 2010)
it is a genuine interest in the social and economic
potential of co-operatives and civil society organisations
Regulated
Private
Sector
Public Sector
Social and mutual
enterprise sector
21
Rochdale Pioneers
Toad Lane, England

28 weavers in Rochdale, Lancashire, opened their first
co-operative store on 21 December

1844
this was the birth-date of the international co-operative
movement
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Voluntary and Open membership
Democratic Member Control
Member Economic Participation
Autonomy and Independence
Education, Training and Information
Co-operation among Co-operatives
Concern for Community
Theme for 2010:
"Co-operative Enterprise Empowers Women "
3 July 2010
“Co-operatives are based
on the values of self-help,
self-responsibility,
democracy, equality,
equity and solidarity. In
the tradition of their
founders, co-operative
members believe in the
ethical values of honesty,
openness, social
responsibility and caring
for others”
Is it:
• 10 million?
• 20 million?
• 50 million?
• 100 million?
• 250 million?
• 500 million?
• Over 800 million?
A Co-operative is:
“An autonomous association of persons united
voluntarily to meet their common economic,
social, and cultural needs and aspirations
through a jointly owned and democratically
controlled enterprise”.
Source: International Co-operative Alliance
statement of Co-operative Identity
“Co-operatives contribute
directly to improve the
standards of living of half
the World’s population”.
(Background paper for United
Nations World Summit on Social
Development, Copenhagen
1995)
 Co-operatives employ over

International Co-operative Alliance
120 million people
20% more than multi-national
corporations
Recognised as a consultative body:
The ILO was created in 1919, as part of the Treaty of
Versailles that ended World War I, to reflect the belief that
universal and lasting peace can be accomplished only if it is
based on social justice
The United Nations has declared 2012 to be the
United Nations International Year of Co-operatives
Representing a force for economic and
social change:
 160,000 co-operative enterprises
 123 million members
 5.4 million Jobs
 € 300 billion turnover
Co-operative 4,992 jointly owned, democratically controlled
Review 2010 businesses, owned by more than 12.9
million people =
1 in 5 of the British population creating and
sustaining more than 237,000 jobs
contributing to £34 billion in turnover to the
UK economy, building, wealth for the many and
not the few....
greener telecoms
We are committed to minimising our environmental impact and
encourage staff to consider this is all aspects of our work.
Renewable Energy
We purchase our electricity from green suppliers, who source their
electricity from renewable generators.
We have also invested £20,000 in the Westmill Wind Farm
Cooperative, which has built a wind farm near South Oxfordshire
and £5,000 in Torrs Hydro New Mills Limited, which has installed a
small hydro-electric project in the High Peak of Derbyshire.
provide musical instrument tuition to
children in schools around the Tyne and
Wear region
Trust schools



The Co-operative College working
with the Co-operative Group and
schools to develop a distinct cooperative trust model that enables
schools to embed co-operative
values into the long term ethos of
the school.
Reddish Vale Technology College
in Stockport became the first
school in the UK to adopt the new
Co-operative Trust model enabling
parents, staff and learners to
become members in the multistakeholder co-operative.
Now supporting the development
of Co-operative Trusts throughout
England and working with the Cooperative Group to develop a
strong national network.
Campsmount Technology College and
Community Partnership Trust, Doncaster
A critique of ‘Big Society’
rhetoric and reality
1
2
3
4
5
They are not the ‘magic bullet’ answer to maintaining public
services at a time of global fiscal constraint, caused by the
global financial crisis caused by the failure to adequately
regulate the banks.
They cannot be providers of services that the Government or
local authorities no longer considers affordable – if the money
isn’t there, it simply isn’t there.
They cannot be established without support services to help
employees and communities to develop them – capacity issue
The cannot be handed public sector services contracts in breach
of European Union procurement rules
Like any business - Co-operative/charity/voluntary
organisation, they cannot operate without a viable business plan
1. They may offer a way, through engaging users and providers of
services, of providing services at lower cost or – more likely – better
services at the same cost.
2. They may help in improving the quality of services provided through
provider/consumer engagement (i.e. Co-operative Trust schools)
3. They may help people who are denied public services – and can
afford to fund them themselves – replace universal service provision
with mutual service provision (e.g. Mutual Retirement Housing) – but
that may be to the exclusion of poorer people who need similar
services
4. In the face of extreme need – charitable philanthropic services may
emerge to offset the most extreme effects of public service cuts
5. Communities may come together to demand new ways of meeting
needs that do not require direct public expenditure – i.e. the provision
of Co-operative housing on land owned by a Community Land Trust
Sir Bob
Kerslake
In the future “success is only likely
to come to those who are willing
to innovate with new models for
funding, land development and
tenure”.