Possibilities of sustainable welfare in cooperative work

Four small co-ops as spaces of ethical decision-making

Abstract

This article approaches the issues of sustainable work in the context of cooperatives, which provoke interest as a democratic form of enterprise often oriented towards shared needs rather than growth or profit. By close reading the thematic interviews of members from four rather small, recent cooperatives the article explores how the diverse cooperative work is shaped by negotiating a wide array of needs, here conceptualised with the help of the HDLB model of sustainable welfare. The prospects of sustainable work in these co-ops can be described as responsible activity, in which the recognised needs translate into connective and compassionate relations to human and more-than-human others near and far and the responsibilities taken teach the active members skills of sharing power. Both aspects involve also contradictions to work on. At large, the absence of profit orientations could enable livelihoods based on a smaller volume of economic activity and lower environmental impacts. Considering sustainable welfare as a most meaningful goal of economic activity could contribute to a shift away from valuing work mainly based on the monetary returns produced, while looking at all kinds of work as inherently heterogenous and constantly negotiated could help to spot practises worth strengthening anywhere.