[en] This article contributes to understanding the role and position of worker cooperatives in society, providing an 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’ 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 colonisation 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 colonisation by cooperatives. It also contributes to theorising the potential effects of organizing work in an economically democratic way.
Research center :
CES - Centre d'Économie Sociale - ULiège
Disciplines :
Social economics
Author, co-author :
Dufays, Frédéric ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > Entrepreneuriat social et durable
O'Shea, Noreen
Huybrechts, Benjamin ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > UER Management : Management en économie sociale
Nelson, Teresa
Language :
English
Title :
Resisting colonisation: Worker cooperatives’ conceptualisation and behaviour in a Habermasian perspective
Publication date :
2020
Journal title :
Work, Employment and Society
ISSN :
0950-0170
eISSN :
1469-8722
Publisher :
SAGE Publications, New York, United States - New York
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