| Abstract |
The evolution of agricultural cooperative thought, theory, and purpose
in the United States is reviewed from the standpoint of the reemergence
of interest in how cooperatives can provide some of the security and benefits
that might be lost with gradual phasing out of federal government farm
support programs. By accomplishing group action for self-help, the early
development of cooperatives drew considerable attention from economists,
social theorists, and politicians. Alternative schools of cooperative thought
developed, but most proponents of cooperatives regarded them as having
enormous potential to provide a public service role in building a more
economically stable and democratic society. This paper also surveys how
cooperative theory was developed more rigorously in the post-WWII period.
It has provided better analytical tools for understanding how and why cooperatives
have changed in response to technological and economic developments, as
well as to social trends, like individualism. Given the new perspectives
on cooperative theory and the scope of changes in how cooperatives operate
and are structured, cooperatives have even greater potential for coordinating
self-help actions, but this potential needs the support of cooperative
education services. |
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