Co-Operative Theory and Practice: Chapter 1 - Introduction To Co-Operation

CO-OPERATIVE THEORY AND
PRACTICE
Chapter 1 - Introduction to Co-operation
Definitions of co-operation
According to C.R Fay, “Co-operation is an association of
persons for the purpose of joint trading among the weak and
conducted always in an unselfish spirit on such terms that all
who are prepared to assume the duties of membership may share
its reward in proportion to the degree in which they make use of
their association”.
The Maclagan Committee of India (1950) has defined co-
operation as “the theory which maintains that an isolated and
powerless man can, by association with others and by moral
development and mutual support, obtain to that extent the
material advantage available to the wealthy and powerful
persons and thereby develop himself to the fullest extent of his
natural ability”.
Characteristics of co-operation
1. An association of persons:
A Co-operative Society comes into
existence when a group of individuals join hand
and form an association.
2. An Enterprise or Undertaking:
Co-operation lays stress on ethical standard
and it is basically an enterprise. It is run by
members themselves at their own cost and risk.
3. Voluntary Association:
An individual is free to join the Society
and resign from his membership of the Society
at his will and discretion.
4. Service Objective:
The main object of co-operative society is
to serve its members rather than to earn profits.
5. Democratic Management:
The Co-operative Society follows the
cardinal principle of democracy i.e, one man one
vote. The affairs are handled by the Board of
Directors. The capital does not get any special
treatment over human being in co-operation.
6. Equality :
No discrimination among members is made
on the grounds of religious faith, political
ideology, and educational qualifications and so
on.
7. Norms of Social Justice :
There is no class division among
capitalists and working class in Co-operation.
8. Socio-economic Movement:
A part of Socio-economic Movement
The Co-operative movement is viewed as a
constituent part of the overall socio- economic
movement of the country.
9. Universal Movement :
It is a Universal Movement found in all
countries of the world.
10. At the service of both the members and
the community :
Every society stands for the economic
upliftment of the members and the social,
cultural and economic betterment of the local
community
Objectives of Co-operative society
1. Elimination of middlemen
Consumer co-operative came to be
established to remove the wholesalers and
retailers who came in between the producers and
consumers.
2. Raising Economic status of the poor
The most basic objective of a co-operative is to
raise the standard of living of the poor who
where, in the past, exploited by the capitalists.
Poor people from an association to undertake
business independently and get the rewards of
their work, without being harassed or ill-treated
by their employers.
3. Removal of the evils of capitalism
The basic cause of all the evils of capitalism is
the profit motive. The nature of money is such
that the more you acquire it, the greater is the
desire to have more of it. This leads to
exploitation, class struggle, economic inequality,
unfair competition etc.
4. Raising moral standards of its members
The combination of business with
ethics is a novel feature of a co-operative
society, the outcome of which is the conduct of
business activities with honesty and truthfulness.
The co-operative is not bothered about merely
the economic life of individuals, but attempts to
improve the quality of life by installing virtuous
qualities in them.
5. Increasing the prosperity of the whole
community
A co-operative society aims at bringing about
the welfare of not a particular individual but of
the whole community. The community feeling
fosters the bond of co-operation.
6. Abolition of social inequalities
The feeling of ‘high’ or ‘low’ acts as a cause of
social tensions, the removal of which is the goal
of the co-operative movement. Here, members
are guaranteed equal rights and opportunities,
and there is no possibility of anybody’s interests
being hurt.
7. Development of corporate life
A co-operative aims at providing a corporate
life to the weaker sections by following the
words, “each for all and all for each”. It has no
faith in natural law of “the survival of fittest”,
for it seeks to transform the weak into the strong
and make them fit for a better life.
Philosophy of co-operation
The term co-operation finds its origin
from the Latin word ‘co-operari’ which means work.
Co-operation today, by means working together for a
common purpose. Where a group of persons decides
to work together in co-operation with each other, co-
operation starts to play its role.
Co-operation as an Economic Philosophy
Co-operation is the essence of successful
social, economic and political life. But these days
co-operation is being linked more with economic
rather than any other aspect of life. Philosophy of
co-operation, however, received much attention, in
recent times, in economic field when it was realized
that a few persons controlled the means of
production and used these to their own advantage.
One way f thought was that means of production
should be owned not by one individual but by the
state so that there was prosperity of the nation as a
whole. But this type of enterprise had is own
limitations. Philosophy of co-operation was found a
via media between individual owned and state
owned systems of enterprise.
Co-operation as a Social Philosophy
In social field philosophy, co-operation is based
on the idea that people always motivated to live
together in society and try to live in peace with each
other. They have always desire to co-operate.
Co-operation attempts to promote prosperity
and peace among the people. It gives a helping hand
to the poor to come up in life. By avoiding
exploitation, it wants to promote good social
relationship.
Co-operation as a way of life
The domestic way of life and the spirit of
mutual help enable people to save themselves from
excess of monopoly. In the real sense co-operation is
not a system but a spirit which excerts its influence
both on the mind and heart.

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CO-OPERATIVE THEORY AND

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