The International Co-Operative Alliance and the Consumer Co-Operative Movement in Northern Europe, c. 1860-1939

Description

The book examines the history of co-operation in the broad context of the history of consumerism and consumption; of internationalism and the development of international organisations; and debates about international trade during the inter-war period. The fundamental question explored in the book concerns the meaning of co-operation. Was it a social movement or an economic enterprise? Did it aspire to challenge capitalism or to reform it? Did it contain at its heart a political vision for the transformation of society or was it simply a practical guide for organising a business? Hilson argues that it was both, but that an examination of the debates over the different meanings of co-operation can also illuminate broader questions about the emergence of consumer interests in the first half of the twentieth century, especially in a transnational context. -- .

Mary Hilson is Professor in the Department of History and Classical Studies at Aarhus University -- .

'The study convincingly situates the co-operative movements of Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and - although less extensively - Norway in the various politics and practices of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA).' Frederik Forrai Orskov, University of Helsinki, Finland, Scandinavian Journal of History, 2019 -- .