Worker cooperatives for social change: knowledge-making through constructive resistance within the capitalist market economy

Abstract

This article explores worker cooperatives’ possibilities and challenges of knowledge-making through constructive resistance within the capitalist market economy. Based on qualitative material from five Swedish worker co-ops, the analysis reveals that the co-ops’ constructive resistance encompasses knowledge-making by setting an example–that it is possible to organise businesses that challenge dominant capitalist undertakings. The knowledge-making is however limited in scope due to contextual circumstances related to the market economic system wherein the co-ops act. This stresses the importance of exploring the resistance context and also the links between knowledge-making and constructive resistance.