Introduction : convincing or empty arguments?

Abstract

Worker-owners typically work better, they work harder, they offer competitive services, they distribute their gains more equitably, they enjoy high levels of participation in decision making, they enjoy high levels of job satisfaction. The above may be strong and convincing arguments on paper; however, the attraction of worker cooperation has, all too often, not been fulfilled in practice. The reasons put forward to explain this are often those collectively referred to as the 'degeneration syndrome', a cluster of disadvantages and obstacles which can be easily evaluated as consequences of an a- or anti- cooperative environment. If that is really the case, then the onus of failure would not fall so heavily on cooperative societies themselves, but on the hostile, competitive, materialist and individualist culture in which they are forced to operate.