Alternative Possibilities in the Sphere of Production: Experiments with Producer Co-operatives

Abstract

It is assumed that it is necessary to change the structure of ownership in order to establish alternative working conditions. The article deals with firms which are owned and controlled by their employees. A companson is made between the organizations of capitalist firms and producer co-operatives in four different respects: participation, learning processes; fundamental con tradictions; general responsibility. The article builds on empirical data from a research project at the Institute of Organization and Industrial Sociology at the Copenhagen School of Economics and Social Science, where a research group, MAREV, has been studying producer co-operatives in Denmark since 1979. Experiences so far have led to some tentative suggestions about the characteristics of producer co-operatives.