Mutual Societies Research Articles

CHRISTIANITY, THE MARKET ECONOMY AND THE LIMITS TO HUMAN KNOWLEDGE

At one time, the prevailing view amongst Christian clergy in Britain would have been sympathetic towards the spontaneous order of the market economy and not sympathetic towards socialism. The spontaneous order, would, of course, have included the rich tapestry of philanthropic organisations and mutual societies that used to provide welfare for the poor. The clergy today are not generally sympathetic towards the market order. An understanding of Austrian ideas takes us to the view that, at the very least, socialist rationalism is the common enemy of Christians and those who support a free market order.

Governance in Democratic Member‐Based Organisations

Abstract This paper considers issues of governance in democratic member‐based organisations (DMOs), such as co‐operatives and mutual societies. It examines the processes whereby members’ interests are mediated through the democratic process, and the board; and it explores some of the factors influencing the power of managers. It goes on to argue that the system of governance in DMOs in their institutional context runs the risks of managers becoming powerful and entrenched in poorly performing social economy organisations, unless countervailing measures are adopted.

Physicians and Foundation Hospitals

Foundation NHS Trusts will be constituted in the same way as Mutual Societies, and local people and patients will be invited to become subscribers. Subscribers will elect a board of governors who will appoint the non-executive directors of the Trusts. Foundation Trusts will be outside the performance management system, but will be subject to a regulator and to inspection. Contracts with commissioners will be legally enforceable. Issues discussed in the article include: financial borrowing; whether competition is being reintroduced; poaching staff; fears of a two-tier health service; fragmentation of the NHS; the impact on research and teaching; and the impact on the current ‘target culture'. Local communities and patient groups may welcome involvement with their local hospitals, but special interest groups could be a danger. Foundation Trusts may bring back some of the better features of NHS Trusts as originally conceived, and offer better opportunities for clinicians to influence local policies and priorities. Fears of yet another organisational change are an important issue. Only time will tell whether the outcome will justify the effort the changes will involve.

Demutualisation, Strategic Choice, and Social Responsibility

This paper examines the demutualisation of the British building societies, the trend during the 1990s for these mutual financial institutions run on behalf of their members and without external shareholders to convert to public limited companies. Demutualisation resulted from cultural change within senior management in mutual societies, which undermined their support for the idea of mutual ownership. This cultural change was a consequence of the deeper integration of mutual societies into the retail financial services sector where a different business culture was dominant. Though government has ignored the wider social impact of demutualisation, it has in fact undermined their attempts to encourage more socially inclusive forms of delivery for personal financial services. The paper makes a case for recognition of the contribution of mutual building societies to the development of more socially responsible corporate strategies. The recent wave of demutuahsations also highlights the need for mutuals to encourage greater membership involvement in the running of the organisation.

Mutuality, De‐Mutualization and Communities: The Implications of Branch Network Rationalization in the British Building Society Industry

The paper examines the withdrawal of branches from local communities by financial institutions. It assesses whether mutually owned building societies are more adept than the former societies that have converted to public limited companies (plcs), or the high street banks, in serving disadvantaged communities. The paper shows that during the mid‐1990s: mutual building societies were more likely than former societies that have converted to plcs to maintain their branch network; mutual societies were less likely than banks to withdraw from socially deprived locations and more likely to open branches in such places; differences between mutual societies and convertors are less marked, but mutual institutions appear less likely than convertors to close branches in deprived communities. Among the remaining mutual building societies there are differences of perspective, with more commercially‐minded societies less positive than socially‐concerned mutuals about the need to maintain or even expand branches in disadvantaged areas.

Belgian labour in World War II: Strategies of survival, organisations and labour relations

A system of collective bargaining at sector level emerged in Belgium after the First World War. The commissions paritaires, in which unions and employers were equally represented, became the centres of power of the pillarised Belgian trade union movement. This system of industrial relations was challenged during the general strike of 1936. Some employers tried to compete with the unions by creating factory councils, yellow unions and 'mutual societies' at company level. The strategic aim was to remove the centre of labour relations from sector to factory level. This tendency was reinforced during the Second World War. Pre-war trade unions were abolished, employers tried to take over the role of the unions by creating all kinds of social provisions at company level. The factory became a basic element of the survival strategy of the workers. Moreover, from 1941 a clandestine and more radical trade union movement, which opposed the pre-war pillarised trade unionism, emerged. These clandestine unions were organised at factory level. In their view, the factory and not the sector had to become the locus of industrial relations after the war. The organisational framework that was established between 1944 and 1952 was a synthesis of the pre-war model of industrial relations and newly established councils at company level.

Mutual improvement societies and the forging of working‐class political consciousness in nineteenth‐century England

Mutual improvement societies are neither so well known nor so widely written about as they deserve to be. This paper attempts to redress the balance. Unlike most mechanics institutes, mutual improvement societies were of the people not for the people. The movement as such began in London at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and spread to the north of England around 1825. There were however earlier isolated examples. The societies were democratic and usually provided instruction by working men themselves in elementary, and sometimes in other subjects. Political discussion was also a major feature. Mutual improvement societies were set up by early nineteenth‐century radicals, by Owenites, Chartists and secularist groups. From mid‐century there were increasing numbers of nonconformist societies until by around the last quarter of the century almost every chapel in the North and the Midlands had such a group. The chapel societies seem to have been largely radical liberal in nature and by the 1890s individuals and entire societies were turning to socialism. Their decline began around 1900, and like so many Victorian institutions they largely passed away with the coming of the First World War.

Joining the Conversation with Diamond, Sheridan, and Trumbull

As a reader, I have often thought that the response and rejoinder section of journals tends to evoke a more emotional response than do most journal articles. Upon further reflection, I think it is more a case of a forum that reveals the depth of emotion that can be aroused by seemingly dispassionate journal articles. The tone, the voice, and the style of response and rejoinder are often quite different from that of the articles in any given journal, a sudden change in writing that implicitly permits authors a little more latitude to overtly or covertly reveal the emotional component that is part of all thought and theorizing, but that tends to be camouflaged by the conventions of scholarly writing. This change in convention can have a jarring effect; reading some responses and rejoinders can be like eavesdropping on an intimate quarrel in which people inadvertently expose their hurt feelings, their reproachful accusations, their petty jealousies, their intellectual obsessions, or their need to split hairs or to be right or to be noticed, all under the guise of academic debate. At times, it is a juicy, gossipy section, hinting at the relationships between authors, ongoing feuds, mutual admiration societies, and pet theories. On welcome and thankfully not infrequent occasions, the response and rejoinder section of ajournal is truly a dialogue, an open conversation that stimulates the reader, that includes the reader, that does not make the reader feel like an embarrassed eavesdropper. This is hard to achieve, and I do not know if we (Diamond, Sheridan, Trumbull, and myself) have done that here, but if there is one thing that unites our four pieces, it is this common view that scholarly writing can be personal, dialogic, and even dialectic. One of the ways to enjoin such a conversation is to candidly discuss one's own experience or reactions and then to really listen to what

The prevalence of mutual improvement in adult education in New Zealand 1870‐1915

In this article it is argued that mutual improvement societies made the major contribution to the continuance of adult education in New Zealand during the period 1870‐1915. The earlier development of mutual improvement societies in Britain provided the model, and the decline of the mechanics’ institutes in New Zealand towards 1870 provided the opportunity, for the rise and spread of the mutual improvement societies throughout New Zealand in the later decades of the nineteenth century. At that time university extension and technical education made major contributions to adult education in Britain and Australia, and in Australia the mechanics’ institutes maintained their vitality. In New Zealand university extension was stillborn and technical education was late in developing. Hence the predominance of the mutual improvement societies in the adult education of the time.

Mutual Improvement Societies in Nineteenth‐Century Lancashire

Mutual Improvement Societies in Nineteenth‐Century Lancashire

Mutual Improvement Societies in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 183 5‐1900

Mutual Improvement Societies in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 183 5‐1900

The Library of the London Society of Compositors, 1855-1896

By THE MIDDLE YEARS of tIle nineteenth· century education, literacy and knowledge was spreading to the upper levels of the working class. The proliferation of clubs, societies and reading-rooms serves as an institutional reminder of the extension downwards of educational facilities. In some cases such provision stemmed from the working class' own initiatives, and adopted a critical posture towards the existing organisation and structure of society; education was not necessarily for purposes of personal advancement and could intermix with propaganda as a weapon in the class struggle. However, in the majority of cases educational provision was not of this type, and possessed instead opposite c\lltural and political objectives. Mutual improvement societies rapidly won the approval and praise of the middle class for the direction of their cultural and political aims. As both J. F. C~Harrison and T. Tholfsen have pointed out, the probable result of the moral and intellectual improvement of the working class would be the 'respectable working man', keen to get on in the world within the limits set from above. Although the library of the London Society of Compositors could only make an informal and voluntary contribution to such improve .. ment, its existence and contents, and the objectives of the Library Committee, are nevertheless informative.l As with the other trade societies, the London Society of Compositors drew its members from the skilled end of the working-class who could claim; by the nature of their employment, a particularly strong affinity with the printed word. It was a logical progression for those employed in making the printed word available themselves to reap the intellectual benefits of their labours. The support given by the LSC Committee to the moral and intellectual improvement of their members found its expression with the opening of the library in September 1855. It was accommodated

Contribution à l'étude de l'endettement de la colonisation agricole au Maroc

The rural policy in Morocco, after Lyautey's dëparture, consisted in bringing settlers, most of whom lacked agricultural experience and financial means. However, these settlers actually found great credit facilities with their Mutual Societies — considerably supported by the Government — as well as with traders. Two reasons account for the slackening of colonization after the early thirties : falling priées and little demand. The Great Depression reveals the importance of the settler's debt. Between 1930 and 1934, the settlers, enfeebled as they were by their inner dissensions, had to face harrying from their creditors, the traders» The latter, through constant pressure upon the Government, managed to have their debts settled by means of Treasury loans. From 1934 onwards, the settlers acted jointly and in a more demanding way, and the traders were ready to help them. The pressure from both sides induced the Government to revise their policy concerning the settlers' debts, naturally at the expense of the tax-payers. The relationship between traders and settlers needs to be replaced in the general context of the defence of their privileges, as they both had to face the simultaneous rise of Moroccan nationalism and of its potential ally : the French Left.

Insurance Investment and the London Money Market of the 18th Century

The 18th century witnessed a remarkable development in insurance facilities. The marine branch, it is true, had a long history, and the origin of fire insurance lies in the years after the catastrophe of 1666. But the growth of the former into one of the great financial activities of the City, and the multiplication of fire offices, is one of the outstanding features of the century. The formation of insurance offices first became prominent in the up-surge of company projects which characterised the 20 years before the Bubble. Most of these proved failures, but by 1760 there were some 14 societies, 12 of which were in London. Thereafter their numbers increased gradually, particularly in the provinces, until at the end of the century there was a total of 30. With the exception of one life and two marine insurance offices, these societies were entirely confined to dealing in fire risks. Less important, but much more widespread, were the small institutions concerned with contingencies which can loosely be designated risks of life. These ranged from the few offices which dealt in annuities, almost wholly in London, to the growing number of friendly societies to be found in most parts of the country. The immense growth of the latter was paralleled in the late 'sixties and early 'seventies of the century by an epidemic of contributorships in London.' It has been estimated that by 1800 one person in four in England was a member of a friendly society. Many of these 18th century insurance offices had a short life and the papers of most of them have long since disappeared. The records, unfortunately in most cases incomplete, of nine societies have, however, survived, and form the basis of this paper. They are the Hand-in-Hand (1696); the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance (1706); the Sun Fire (1710); the Union Society (1715); the Westminster Fire Office (1717); the London Assurance (1720); the Royal Exchange (1720); the Equitable Life Assurance (1768); and the Phoenix Fire Office (1783). The smaller fire offices-the Westminster, the Hand-inHand, and the Union-together with the Amicable and the Equitable, were mutual societies; the remainder were proprietary companies organised for profit.2

On Bonuses on Endowment-Assurance Policies

In a paper which I read before the Institute of Actuaries in April 1887 (J.I.A., xxvi, 357) I gave some tables which seemed to me likely to be of use, in the case of certain life offices, for the purpose of forming estimates of the amounts of bonuses arising on ordinary whole-term with-profit policies. The offices contemplated were mutual societies, making their periodical valuations every five years by the HM Table, at 3 per-cent interest. Life offices differ so much in regard to rates of premium charged and rate and incidence of expenses, and also in regard to the rate of interest earned by their funds, that it appeared to me it would be desirable to construct tables in such a form that the bonuses, which would fit the circumstances of any particular office, might, without difficulty, be calculated from them, rather than to calculate bonuses for a hypothetical office. An illustration was given, it is true, but this was subsidiary to the main purpose of the paper, and was furnished with the object of showing how the tables might be applied.