The Big Society, values and cooperation

In a context of government promotion of co-operatives, a growth in the cooperative economy, and in times when use of the term “co-operative” appears to have broadened to include any form of employee ownership, this paper sets out a research agenda for exploring producer co-operatives, focusing on what cooperation means to those who work in them. Based on exploratory research in three producer co-operatives, the paper argues that the values and principles are being used so liberally that co-operatives have a very wide appeal, making cooperation attractive to a wide spectrum of political ideals and values – perhaps surprisingly, those associated with individualism alongside those of cooperation