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Abstract
This paper is intended to consider, in the light of the recent transformation of the
Israeli kibbutz, the variety of social experiments which similarly illustrate the
Proudhonian-Comtian-Durkheimian emphases on cooperation and collective
solidarity, within societies dominated by market economy, the philosophy of
progress and, nowadays especially, processes of globalization. These forms
draw their interest from the fact that they put this vision to empirical test which
shows the tensions, difficulties, and potentialities involved. We will especially
focus on the kibbutz, the Mondragon complex of cooperatives and the American
communes which show, beyond the differences of context and the singularity
of each specific type, how far collectivism may concur with individualism, and
solidarity and egalitarianism with social differentiation and conflict. On the
other hand, the comparative analysis also reveals, in varying respects and at
diverse degrees, similar concerns, dilemmas and tensions. As a rule, the tension
between the enterprise and the community principles has gradually witnessed a
predominance of the former over the latter and this "embourgeoisement" leads
to confrontations between values and aspirations as well as between callings
and interests. The collective's survival, it appears, is endangered both when
it is threatened by insolvency - ipso Jacto - and when it is successful - as it
risks then to be torn apart by divergent interests which impend on its moral
purposes. Above all, this comparative analysis breaks the naivety of those who
fully participate to this era of globalization and still perceive utopia beyond technocracy.