Resisting Colonization: Worker Cooperatives’ Conceptualization and Behaviour in a Habermasian Perspective

Frédéric Dufays, Noreen O’Shea, Benjamin Huybrechts and Teresa Nelson
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Frédéric Dufays: KU Leuven, Belgium
Noreen O’Shea: ESCP Business School, France
Benjamin Huybrechts: emlyon business school, France; Liège University, Belgium
Teresa Nelson: Simmons University, USA

Work, Employment & Society, 2020, vol. 34, issue 6, 965-984

Abstract: This article contributes to understanding the role and position of worker cooperatives in society, providing a socio-political explanation to their existence as well as conceptual tools that can be used to imagine and implement economic democracy practices. It uses and complexifies Habermas’s social theory and its separation between system and lifeworld to show that cooperatives may act, intentionally and idealistically, at the interface of these two domains. This positioning enables cooperatives to participate in resisting colonization of the lifeworld by endowing individuals with resources favouring communicative action and by redefining institutional arrangements within the system. This article identifies factors explaining the varying degrees of resistance to colonization by cooperatives. It also contributes to theorizing the potential effects of organizing work in an economically democratic way.

Keywords: colonization; communicative action; economic democracy; Habermas; worker cooperatives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:34:y:2020:i:6:p:965-984

DOI: 10.1177/0950017019895936

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