The Preston Model: Economic Democracy, Cooperation, and Paradoxes in Organisational and Social Identification

Ioannis Prinos and Julian Manley
Additional contact information
Ioannis Prinos: University of Central Lancashire, UK
Julian Manley: University of Central Lancashire, UK

Sociological Research Online, 2023, vol. 28, issue 3, 627-643

Abstract: The ‘Preston Model’ (PM) has substantially improved the socio-economic outlook of Preston (UK). It is a community wealth-building approach, harnessing local economic power for a more resilient, environmentally sustainable, democratic economy and socially cohesive community, prioritising social value, through private and public sector partnerships. This qualitative research article investigates how people in local ‘anchor institutions’ (major wealth creators and employers ‘anchored’ in Preston) perceive the PM. Focusing on economic democracy and solidarity, and building on organisational and social identity theory, its relation with democratic participation, organisational identification and pride processes enabling social change is examined. Most interviewees doubt its organisational and local impact; nevertheless, they exhibit a sense of pride as its ‘drivers’, attributing to it ‘higher’ ethical values. While the PM exerts a subtle emotional, aspirational, and socio-cultural influence, it still represents a shifting, alternative socio-economic paradigm, emerging through both individual and collective assent, rather than specific policy directives.

Keywords: cooperatives; cooperation; economic democracy; organisational identification; Preston Model; pride; social change; social identity; social value; solidarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13607804211069398 (text/html)

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:sae:socres:v:28:y:2023:i:3:p:627-643

DOI: 10.1177/13607804211069398

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Sociological Research Online
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().