Negotiating consumer and producer interests : A Challange for the Co-operative Movement and Fair Trade

• This chapter looks closer at the concept fair trade and what this means within a co-operative context. More specifically it deals with the dilemma of negotiating consumer and producer interests and an equitable distribution of resources between all parties involved in the production and distribution of goods. The study puts the present day consumer co-operative organisations’ engagement for fair trade into a historic context. It discusses the possible links between classic co-operative convictions and fair trade today. It also shows how different ideals for an equitable distribution of resources developed within the Co-operative movement and that these ideals could clash. It is not a comprehensive study following the dealings between co-operators through the ages. Instead we focus on co-operators’ efforts to combine producer and consumer interests and how this relate to challenges for Fair Trade today. Examples discussed and compared in the text are taken from the history of the British and Swedish co-operative movements. The comparative element puts the familiar narratives of the British Co-operative movement into a new context and makes it possible for us to see how co-operative principles travel and are transformed.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Historia (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

fair trade

co-operation

consumer

producer

Historia

History

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kap (ämneskategori)