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Volume 13, 1998 >
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://purl.umn.edu/46222
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| Title: | Evolution of Cooperative Thought, Theory, and Purpose |
| Authors: | Torgerson, Randall E.
Reynolds, Bruce J.
Gray, Thomas W. |
| Issue Date: | 1998 |
| Abstract: | The evolution of agricultural cooperative thought, theory, and purpose in the United
States is reviewed from the standpoint of the reemergence of interest in how cooperatives
can provide some of the security and benefits that might be lost with gradual
phasing out of federal government farm support programs. By accomplishing group
action for self-help, the early development of cooperatives drew considerable attention
from economists, social theorists, and politicians. Alternative schools of cooperative
thought developed, but most proponents of cooperatives regarded them as having enormous
potential to provide a public service role in building a more economically stable
and democratic society This paper also surveys how cooperative theory was developed
more rigorously in the post-WWII period. It has provided better analytical tools for
understanding how and why cooperatives have changed in response to technological
and economic developments, as well as to social trends, like individualism. Given the
new perspectives on cooperative theory and the scope of changes in how cooperatives
operate and are structured, cooperatives have even greater potential for coordinating
self-help actions, but this potential needs the support of cooperative education services. |
| URI: | http://purl.umn.edu/46222 |
| Institution/Association: | Journal of Cooperatives>Volume 13, 1998 |
| Total Pages: | 20 |
| From Page: | 1 |
| To Page: | 20 |
| Collections: | Volume 13, 1998
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Size | Format |
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| Vol 13 1998 Article 1.pdf | 1010Kb | PDF | View/Open |
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