About this episode

Dr. Jason S. Spicer discusses the conditions under which co-operative enterprises can achieve scale in the United States compared to other democracies.

Co-operative enterprises, which are democratically owned and governed by their workers, customers, or suppliers, have long captured the imagination of activists and social scientists alike. In centering economic democracy and a collectivist-democratic logic, and in embodying a "third way" alternative to profit-maximizing corporations and state-owned enterprises, co-operatives offer the promise of a more sustainable and equitable economy. Despite extensive study of co-operatives' real and imagined benefits, we know little about the conditions under which they achieve the lasting scale needed to be a viable alternative and transform the economy. Under what conditions can co-operatives achieve such scale? And are such conditions present in the United States, where, despite repeated organizing efforts, co-operatives remain exceptionally rare at scale? Through a rigorous comparative-historical analysis of co-operative enterprises in different national contexts, Co-operative Enterprise in Comparative Perspective: Exceptionally Un-American? (Oxford University Press, 2024) by Dr. Jason Spicer seeks to answer these questions. Deploying two different variants of the new institutionalism…

People in this episode

Guest: Jason S. Spicer

Topics covered

• co-operative enterprises
• economic democracy
• comparative analysis
• sustainable economy
• collectivist-democratic logic
• profit-maximizing corporations
• national contexts

Keywords

• co-operatives
• economic democracy
• comparative-historical analysis
• sustainable economy
• collectivism
• institutionalism
• profit-maximization

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Oxford University Press

Places: United States, Finland, France, New Zealand

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