This report is intended to develop the outlines of a sociological theory of cooperatives. This objective is accomplished by: 1) critiquing neoclassical economic analyses of cooperative conversions, (restructuring, acquisition, or sale of agricultural cooperatives such that an investment-oriented firm is created in its place), 2) examining historical data on cooperative restructuring generally and conversions as a subset of this data and 3) developing a theoretical approach to a sociology of cooperatives, that is inductive and retains cooperative tensions (e.g. democracy versus economy, local versus global).