FOUR TYPOLOGIES OF COOPERATIVISM
Melnyk
A historical and ideology
analysis. More about the history
of the idea of cooperativism via
historical case studies.
Briscoe & Ward
A socially-imbued business
study using cooperative
“business cases”. A how-to
manual. Small and
user/consumer focused
reportage.
Liberal democratic (strong
Consumer coops. (B & W, we
presence of marketplace)
can assume, would lump
 Marketing coops /
service and financial coops
Producer coops / Service here…but don’t all totally fit
coops
within a liberal democratic
 Second and third tier
model, or do they? B & W do
coops
not specify.)
 Coop federations and
“apex orgs” such as
ICA.
Craig
Historical and ideology
analysis. A sociology and
philosophy of cooperatives.
Some typologies.
Quarter
A social scientific study. Using
categories, quantitative date, and
typologies. A Canadian-based
approach (liberal democratic)
Cooperative Commonwealth
Consumer or User Coops
 Service coops
(consumer, etc.)
 Workers coops
 (a tension between the
two)
Second and Third Tier Models
 Financial
 Mutual Insruance
Cooperative Sector
 More
multistakeholder…
Cooperatively held subsidiaries
Marxist (centrally directed and
planned by strong state)
 Collectives (tend to be
agrarian)
 Communes (tend to be
agrarian or
multifunctional
communities)
 Workers’ Coops (?)
Producer coops
Worker coops
Centralized (Marxist-Lenisist)
Socialism
 State controlled
 Educational function (of
working class)
 Present in the transition
 Agrarian focused
Socialist (strong nationalistic
sentiments)
 More multistakeholder
collectives (kibbutz)
 Larger workers coops
like Mondragon or
Caisse populaire in
Quebec
Community coops
Modified Capitalism
 Welfare state
 “service-oriented
capitalism”
 Benign self-interest and
individualism
Worker Cooperatives
Communal (more anarchist
leanings; Multistakeholder)
 Religious communities
 Intentional communities
 Some forms of workers’
coops
 Back to nature and
health coops
Multistakeholder coops
New Age Cooperativism
 Linked to new social
movements
 More communally
minded.
Multistakeholder cooperatives
Multistakeholder cooperatives in
Crown Coroporations
Worker shareholder cooperatives
What about multi-tiered
coops?
What about insurance coops
and mutual insurers?
What about agricultural and
marketing coops?