The creation of new entities: Stakeholders and shareholders in nineteenth-century Italian co-operatives

As a result of strong links with the most important socio-cultural issues of the nineteenth century, both the definition and promotion of co-operatives are interwoven with the development of the sociopolitical movements of that period. For this reason discussion of such issues was never confined to purely academic circles and a great deal has been written about the relationship between co-operation and ideologies or cultural and political stances. In Europe the focus has been on the influence that the various forms of Christianity have had on the co-operative movement and on the impact of socialist ideology on the setting up of worker and consumer co-operatives. In the United States scholars have analysed the role played by the Grange (or Patrons of Husbandry) and the Farmers’ Alliance in the promotion of insurance and farmers’ co-operatives. The growth of co-operatives has been the subject of theoretical analyses by famous economists such as Walras and Mill, and has enjoyed support from a growing school of thought embodied in the creation of socialist-inspired institutions (ranging from the Trades Councils to the Resistance Leagues), and from a section of the Catholic world (parish priests and parish associations) that associated this new form of enterprise with a more ethical approach to society and the economy.

Related Subject(s): Economic and Social Development