Mutual Organizations, Mutual Societies

Edith Archambault ()

Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) from HAL

Abstract: This article is an entry to be published in an International Encyclopedia of Civil Society in 2009. Mutual organizations exist everywhere in developed and developing countreies as well. After a definition founded on social economy principles, the paper gives the historical background of mutual insurance companies, mutual benefit societies and building societies. Then we draw a panorama of the European mutual societies with international perspectives on the USA and some developing countries. Some key issues facing mutual organizations are evoked: the competition with investor driven businesses, the trend of demutualization in Anglo-saxon countries and the new role of mutual benefit societies in changing welfare states. In conclusion we argue on the European Commission ambiguous guidelines while mutual societies are prototypes of social enterprises fitted with post-industrial societies

Keywords: mutual organizations; mutual insurance companies; mutual benefit societies; buiding societies; demutualization; social economy; information asymmetry; solidarity; mutuelles; mutuelles d'assurance; mutuelles de santé et de prévoyance; building societies; demutualisation; economie sociale; information asymétrique; solidarité (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-12
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00267566
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Helmut K. Anheier, Stefan Toepler. International Encyclopedia of Civil Society, Springer, pp.1000, 2009

Downloads: (external link)
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00267566/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00267566

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().