Friends against capitalism: Constructive resistance and friendship compliance in worker cooperatives

Abstract

The article examines how members of worker cooperatives articulated friendship as resistance against capitalist work relations. This elucidates relatively unexplored links between research on workplace friendships and resistance studies. Based on interviews with members from small Swedish worker co-ops, the analysis shows that the co-ops hinged their friendships on authenticity, but also valued friendship explicitly for its economic and political benefits. Yet, this ideal of authentic and equal friendships sat side by side with narratives of what the article calls ‘friendship compliance’. This concept denotes how friendships may instil loyalty, reduce dissent and promote self-sacrifice. It is argued that while such compliance can be at odds with cooperative ideals, its expression in the worker co-ops studied here did not coincide with how the same mechanism has been described as operating in capitalist work organisations.