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Abstract
The Constitution of 1988 promotes cooperatives as privileged forms of organizing for the diggers. This paper analyses how diamond
diggers from a district of Minas Gerais utilize the cooperative form, having as presupposition that there is an inherent conflict
between the cooperative form and the organization of digging activities. This is a case study, for which documents were analyzed and
also some of the board members of the cooperative, diamonds diggers members of the coop, local authorities and other relevant
informants were interviewed. In this research Contingency Theory and New Institutional Economy are used to explain the genesis of
the organization. It is concluded that cooperative organization should not be proposed as a solution for any type of activity. One
should take into account the kind of activity and the organizational culture already established by the organization, this time in
diamonds digging, which led to an inadequate appropriation, although involuntarily, of a cooperative organizational form.