Consumer co-ops: Alternative economic and social units

Abstract

The traditional cooperatives which arose in the 1930s as alternative institutions became hierarchical, full-service supermarkets selling a full range of products. In the 1960s New Wave co-ops arose to meet the needs of a young constituency interested in ecology and nutrition. The New Wave co-ops tended to be non-hierarchical, participatory, and selective in their merchandising. Reality demands of the marketplace have contributed to the evolution of a Third Wave of cooperatives which combined the full product selection and defined organizational structure of the traditional co-ops with the natural food orientation and the volunteerism of the New Wave.