Cooperatives and social transformation: An assessment of the global cooperative movement and its diverse trajectories

This chapter offers a comprehensive assessment of the global cooperative movement, tracing its historical roots, diverse trajectories, and contemporary transformations. While the Rochdale Pioneers in 19th-century England are widely credited as the cooperative movement’s origin, this chapter challenges this singular narrative by highlighting the multiplicity of cooperative traditions that emerged independently or were adapted through cultural hybridization across the globe. The development of cooperatives in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America is explored, revealing how local socio-political contexts, colonial legacies, and indigenous philosophies shaped distinct cooperative models. The analysis identifies a dual dynamic in the movement: a mainstream, economically driven stream aligned with the International Cooperative Alliance, and a transformative stream rooted in community solidarity, sustainability, and social justice. Contemporary debates are discussing degeneration risks, the role of multistakeholder models, and the re-emergence of cooperatives as tools for ecological and social transformation. This chapter concludes by emphasizing the importance of inter-cooperative collaboration, youth engagement, and alliances with broader solidarity economy actors as key strategies to strengthen cooperatives as agents of inclusive and sustainable development. We think that it is more valuable to recognize this diversity in order to engage with it not only to help ensure that the cooperative movement is strong but also to ensure that cooperatives are able to fulfill their most basic and important function: to make people’s lives better. Recognizing the movement’s diversit(ies) is key to strengthening cooperatives and helping them fulfill their core purpose, which is improving their lives.