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—cooperatively, co-operatively /koh op"euhr euh tiv lee, -op"reuh tiv-, -op"euh ray'tiv-/, adv. —cooperativeness, co-operativeness, n./koh op"euhr euh tiv, -op"reuh tiv, -op"euh ray'tiv/, adj.1. working or acting together willingly for a common purpose or benefit.2. demonstrating a willingness to cooperate: The librarian was cooperative in helping us find the book.3. pertaining to economic cooperation: a cooperative business.4. involving or denoting an educational program comprising both classroom study and on-the-job or technical training, esp. in colleges and universities.n.5. a jointly owned enterprise engaging in the production or distribution of goods or the supplying of services, operated by its members for their mutual benefit, typically organized by consumers or farmers.6. Also called co-op, cooperative apartment.a. a building owned and managed by a corporation in which shares are sold, entitling the shareholders to occupy individual units in the building.b. an apartment in such a building. Cf. condominium (defs. 1, 2).Also, co-operative.[1595-1605; < LL cooperativus. See COOPERATE, -IVE]
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Organization owned by and operated for the benefit of those using its services.Cooperatives have been successful in such fields as the processing and marketing of farm products and the purchasing of other kinds of equipment and raw materials, and in the wholesaling, retailing, electric power, credit and banking, and housing industries. The modern consumer cooperative traces its roots to Britain's Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers (1844); the movement spread quickly in northern Europe. In the U.S., agricultural marketing cooperatives developed in rural areas in the 19th century; other contemporary examples include consumer and housing cooperatives. See also credit union.* * *
organization owned by and operated for the benefit of those using its services. Cooperatives have been successful in a number of fields, including the processing and marketing of farm products, the purchasing of other kinds of equipment and raw materials, and in the wholesaling, retailing, electric power, credit and banking, and housing industries. The income from a retail cooperative is usually returned to the consumers in the form of dividends based on the amounts purchased over a given period of time.Modern consumer cooperatives, usually called co-ops in the United States, are thought to have begun in Great Britain in 1844, with the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers. The society created a set of organizational and working rules that have been widely adopted. They included open membership, democratic control, no religious or political discrimination, sales at prevailing market prices, and the setting aside of some earnings for education.The cooperative movement developed rapidly in the latter part of the 19th century, particularly in the industrial and mining areas of northern England and Scotland. It spread quickly among the urban working class in Britain, France, Germany, and Sweden and among the rural population of Norway, The Netherlands, Denmark, and Finland.In the United States, attempts at consumer and agricultural marketing cooperatives were made at the beginning of the 19th century. Although most U.S. cooperatives developed in rural areas, consumer and housing cooperatives spread substantially in metropolitan areas in the late 20th century.Cooperatives were introduced in Latin America by European immigrants in the early 1900s; later they were often fostered by state action in connection with agrarian reform. Marketing and credit cooperatives have been important in many African nations, especially since World War II. During the Soviet era, marketing cooperatives of the U.S.S.R. and eastern Europe functioned as part of a centrally controlled purchasing network for farm produce. Cooperative farms in those countries were modeled on the Russian artel, in which all land was pooled and worked in common and income was distributed according to work performed. Compare credit union.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
