Economic Democracy as the The Third Way: History of Cooperativism and Mondragón

Abstract

The topic of this essay is the perennial problem of the relationship between religion and economics. However, many scholars in religious studies often fail to properly connect religious values and economics. In addition, modern sociological and economic theories that focus on particular abstract aspects of human society exaggerate these abstractions as critical or central features of human existence, but ignore other equally important features. In this context, many communities and groups have been formed to promote grassroots economic interaction and to protect people from an asymmetrical global economy. Among them, the Mondragón Cooperative Corporations in Spain has sought to provide an alternative economic community. The primary purpose of this study is to articulate and analyze the economic ethics underlying the practice of the Mondragón Corporacion Cooperativa, which is owned and governed by workers. Cooperatives such as Mondragón are governed by “Cooperative Principles” that differentiate them from traditional capitalist enterprises. This article examines the worker-owned cooperative movement as an alternative to both monopolistic capitalism and socialism for economic democracy. It examines how Mondragón’s workers and their leader can and should develop their own ways of coping with, confronting, and potentially resisting capitalism in their own local community. It attempts to demystify the dominant, global capitalist economy. This study aims to develop a set of practical strategies for achieving alternative economic ethics.