Collective Identity and Contractual Cooperation: an Activist Research Approach
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COLLECTIVE IDENTITY AND CONTRACTUAL COOPERATION: AN ACTIVIST RESEARCH APPROACH By Josephine Barraket thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy University of New South Wales 1999 I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published of written by another person, nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have not worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance fromothers in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. Signature ...... -·· ...........................................d . Name .........Jo.s.l. f.�.i�.. &.r r�!.................. Date ........ .i./1.f.9.1 ................................... Acknowledgements The production of this thesis would not have been possible without the participation of the members of Alfalfa House Community Food Cooperative, and to each and every one of them I am grateful. In particular, my thanks to the following Alfalfans for their support, contributions, and friendship during the time of researching this thesis: Jude Bellicanta; Elyse Callaghan; Suzanne Fraser; Bruce Fry; Kathy Grattan; Di Gulson; Shane Higoe; Laveana McNamara; Trish McEwan; and Phil Maher. The Alfalfa House community is ever changing, so my thanks, too, to those who continue to be sources of support and friendship 'beyond' the thesis. Thank you to my excellent supervisor, Dr Eileen Baldry, who offered me all of the benefits of supervision, and none of the liabilities. Thanks also to my co-supervisor, Dr Damian Grace, who challenged me to be accountable for my ideas, and taught me never to apologise. Special thanks to my friend, Warwick Moss, for his willingness to proofread, and his technical assistance. Finally, my sincere gratitude to my family - both the one I was born into, and the one I chose for myself - for their support and endurance throughout the journey. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1 ALL THAT MOVES IS NOT A MOVEMENT ................................................................................................... 1 SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY - POSTMODERN POSSIBILITIES ................................................................... 4 EXPLORING A CONSUMER COOPERATIVE IN THE LIGHT OF SOCIAL MOVEMENT STUDIES ....................... 5 ACTIVIST RESEARCH APPROACH - THE METHOD IS THE MESSAGE ......................................................... 7 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................. 9 CHAPTER ONE: POSTMODERN INFLUENCES ............................................................................ 10 THE POSTMODERN TURN: A BRIEF LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 10 The 'postmodern condition' .............................................................................................................. 12 Postmodern themes in the social sciences ........................................................................................ 13 A note on power................................................................................................................................. 15 LOCAL KNOWLEDGES, MULTIPLICITY, & SELF-REFLEXIVITY: POSTMODERN INFLUENCES IN THE PRESENT STUDY ....................................................................................................................................... 16 Against grand narrative: the quest for local knowledges ................................................................ 17 Searching for truths_: multiple meanings, varied voices .................................................................. 19 Self-reflexivity as a postmodern strategy .......................................................................................... 20 THE POSTMODERN PARADOX: DIVERGENCES IN THIS STUDY ................................................................. 22 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER TWO: SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY ....................................................................... 27 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 27 'SOCIAL MOVEMENT' & 'COLLECTIVE ACTION', - DEFINITIONAL DISTINCTIONS ............................... 27 THEORY AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS - A POSTMODERN POSITION ............................................................. 29 SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY: A BRIEF OVERVIEW ................................................................................. 31 THE NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENT PARADIGM ............................................................................................ 42 'New social movements' & 'postindustrial society': definitional categories or social reality? .... 42 New Social Movements, Participation, and Democracy.................................................................. 47 COLLECTIVE IDENTITY - A CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH TO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS .............................. 48 Multiplicity: ....................................................................................................................................... 51 Dynamism .......................................................................................................................................... 52 Self-Reflexivity ................................................................................................................................... 53 Action Orientation ............................................................................................................................. 54 'COMMUNITY': A SITE OF ACTION AND A SITE FOR STUDY? .................................................................. 55 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 63 CHAPTER THREE: CONTRACTUAL COOPERATION ............................................................... 65 DEFINING TERMS .................................................................................................................................... 65 'Cooperation' and 'Cooperatives' .................................................................................................... 66 'Cooperativism ' ................................................................................................................................. 67 'The cooperative movement' ............................................................................................................. 67 'Contractual Cooperation' - Organisational Types: ....................................................................... 68 ORIGINS OF MODERN COOPERATION ................................................................................................... , ... 69 The 'first wave' - 1817 -1834 ............................................................................................................ 70 Birth of the modern cooperative - the Rochdale weavers ............................................................... 73 Formation of the International Cooperative Alliance ..................................................................... 74 Directed cooperation - after World War Two .................................................................................. 76 The 'new wave': cooperation in the 1960s and beyond................................................................... 77 COOPERATION TODAY: THE ICA STATEMENT ON THE COOPERATIVE IDENTITY ................................. 78 IDEOLOGICAL ORIENT ATI ONS OF COOPERATION .................................................................................... 81 COOPERATIVISM- AN 'INVISIBLE' SOCIAL MOVEMENT? ....................................................................... 83 Focus OF THE STUDY: A PROFILE OF ALFALFA HOUSE ......................................................................... 88 History................................................................................................................................................ 89 Aims and objectives ........................................................................................................................... 90 Pricing system .................................................................................................................................... 95 Membership requirements: ............................................................................................................... 95 Organisational structure ................................................................................................................... 97 Membership ......................................................................................................................................