Food cooperatives

Celia Plender

Chapter 2 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Economic Anthropology, 2025, pp 100-104 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: While the ideal typical cooperative is member-owned and controlled, food co-ops can have diverse forms as a consequence of the political-economic environments in which they are founded and the needs and interests of their members. Waves of food cooperative activity have corresponded to different moments in the development of capitalism, from 19th century industrialization to mid-20th century Fordism and early 21st century neoliberalism. In the contemporary context, they have been shaped by visions ranging from ‘diverse’ or ‘solidarity’ economies to ‘alternative food networks’ and community hubs for fresh fruit and vegetables. As well as places to source more affordable foods of different kinds (healthy, sustainable, ethical), they are also sites where quiet or everyday forms of political action are often enacted, ranging from participatory democracy to care. While these practices inevitably come with their complexities and ambivalences, arguably, they also have the potential to open up imaginations and alternative capacities.

Keywords: Food co-ops; Alternative food networks; Diverse economies; Participatory democracy; Everyday politics; Care (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035312566
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035312573.00029 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

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:elg:eechap:22348_22

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().