A Critical Revisit to the Principles of Cooperatives: A Case Study of Multipurpose Cooperatives in Sri Lanka

The cooperative movement, a business initiative in its own right, operates in the market according to its unique set of principles that promote user ownership, user control and user benefit. However, despite the cooperative value system that emphasizes social wellbeing, the image it has developed in the minds of customers over time is apparently in trouble, due to the backlash from the neoliberal market economy that promotes consumerism. Against this backdrop, the current research paper focuses on understanding the nexus of connections that the principles of cooperatives have given rise to in creating the practices of its membership, using the theory of social practices as a framework. Neoliberalism as a political theory is critically analyzed in relation to its dominant practices, while shedding light on the pressures that those practices have brought to bear on the survival of cooperatives in the cotemporary neoliberal economic landscape of Sri Lanka. Based on the case study method, two multipurpose cooperative societies in Sri Lanka were studied by analyzing the data gathered from them thematically through a cross case analysis. It was found that of the three main components that are essential to the creation of a practice, namely, materials, meanings and competencies, meanings are the most powerful component in the creation of practices in cooperatives. Thus, it can be concluded that it is not the principles of cooperatives that have prevented cooperatives from competing effectively in the Sri Lankan retail market, but their implementation under the current economic conditions in Sri Lanka.