The Cooperative Society: The next stage of human history
By E.G. Nadeau and Luc Nadeau
()
About this ebook
In this book, we present the hypothesis that humans may be on the threshold of a new historical stage, one characterized by cooperation, democracy, the equitable distribution of resources and a sustainable relationship with nature. Our history for more than 200,000 years has included cooperation with one another, with other species and with our
E.G. Nadeau
E.G. Nadeau has an undergraduate degree in sociology from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been researching, developing, teaching, and writing about cooperatives and communities for over 40 years. From February 2014 to September 2015, Nadeau served as the research director for the US Overseas Cooperative Development Council, and organized the International Cooperative Research Group, a division of OCDC. In 2012, Nadeau wrote The Cooperative Solution: How the United States can tame recessions, reduce inequality, and protect the environment. He also co-authored Cooperation Works! with David Thompson in 1996. Over a period of 30 years, from 1985 to the present, Nadeau has been doing domestic and international co-op consulting work for Cooperative Development Services, the National Cooperative Business Association/CLUSA, Land O' Lakes International Development Division, the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council, and other organizations. He served on the faculty of the Master in Management - Cooperatives and Credit Unions Program at St. Mary's University in Halifax, N.S. from 2004 to 2013. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Related to The Cooperative Society
Related ebooks
One Planet, Many Worlds: The Climate Parallax Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInformal Workers and Collective Action: A Global Perspective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTheology as Construction of Piety: An African Perspective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPower Lines: Building a Labor–Climate Justice Movement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKeys to the City: How Economics, Institutions, Social Interaction, and Politics Shape Development Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEveryday Law on the Street: City Governance in an Age of Diversity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Green Jobs for a New Economy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGoing to Pentecost: An Experimental Approach to Studies in Pentecostalism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPolitical Formation: Being Formed by the Spirit in Church and World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArtificial Intelligence and the Apocalyptic Imagination: Artificial Agency and Human Hope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHigh Religion: A Cultural and Political History of Sherpa Buddhism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGlobalization: Buying and selling the world Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArt + Climate = Change II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSub-merge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvangelical News: Politics, Gender, and Bioethics in Conservative Christian Magazines of the 1970s and 1980s Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Live Peaceably Together: The American Friends Service Committee's Campaign for Open Housing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHumanity's Moment: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGlobal Faith, Worldly Power: Evangelical Internationalism and U.S. Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow the World Breaks: Life in Catastrophe's Path, from the Caribbean to Siberia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fight for Local Control: Schools, Suburbs, and American Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFood Co-ops in America: Communities, Consumption, and Economic Democracy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Trouble of the World: Slavery and Empire in the Age of Capital Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmateurs without Borders: The Aspirations and Limits of Global Compassion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNobody's People: Hierarchy as Hope in a Society of Thieves Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCreated Being: Expanding Creedal Christology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings1. Uncovering the Treasures of Africa: A Guide to Documenting Indigenous Knowledge Management: 1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Patchwork City: Class, Space, and Politics in Metro Manila Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll or None: Cooperation and Sustainability in Italy's Red Belt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEconomy's Tension: The Dialectics of Community and Market Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPost-cosmopolitan Cities: Explorations of Urban Coexistence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Social Science For You
My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition: The Power of Radical Self-Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Cooperative Society
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Cooperative Society - E.G. Nadeau
Copyright © 2016 by E.G. Nadeau and Luc Nadeau
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form whatsoever, by any means, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the authors.
Published by E.G. Nadeau and Luc Nadeau
egnadeau3@gmail.com
www.thecooperativesociety.org
158 Kensington Drive
Madison, WI 53704
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nadeau, E.G., and Nadeau, Luc
The Cooperative Society:
The next stage of human history /
E.G. Nadeau and Luc Nadeau
1. Economic history and conditions
2. Social history and conditions
3. Social problems
4. Social reform
ISBN 978-0-9980662-0-2
Printed in the United States of America
First edition
The cover design by Luc Nadeau is a symbolic depiction of the history of Homo sapiens.
Design by Smiling Dog Design
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1
Hypothesis
The cooperative society
Stages of human history
Chapter 2
Measurement
Measuring transition to the cooperative society
1. Growth or decline of cooperative businesses
2. Increasing or decreasing economic power of large, for-profit businesses
3. Increasing or decreasing inequality in household income and wealth
4. Greater or fewer deaths from domestic and international conflicts
5. More or fewer people living in democratic countries
6. Improving or deteriorating quality of life
7. Improving or deteriorating environmental conditions
Cooperative Society Scorecard
Chapter 3
Recommendations and Observations
Becoming a more cooperative society
1. Grow cooperative businesses
2. Decrease the economic and political power of large, for-profit businesses
3. Reduce inequality in household income and wealth
4. Decrease the number of deaths from domestic and international conflicts
5. Increase the number of people living in democracies
6. Improve the quality of life
7. Improve environmental conditions
Concluding comments on recommendations and observations
Conclusion
Appendix on Cooperative Business Opportunities
Following is a series of questions that should be explored in order to identify co-op opportunities over the next couple of decades.
Selected Readings
Acknowledgements
The Authors
Endnotes
Introduction
Humans have always cooperated in order to survive – survive despite competition and conflict in our relationships with one another, with other species and with our physical environment. Just look at the bloody trail of wars, violence and oppression that have characterized our relationships with one another throughout recorded history.
However, we may be on the verge of moving beyond our conflict-filled past toward a society in which cooperation is the predominant way we relate to one another and to our planet. Why? It could be that humans no longer feel compelled to fight over scarce resources, because we now have the means, organizational skills and technology to meet everyone’s basic needs.
In this book, we present the hypothesis that humans may be on the threshold of a new historical stage, one characterized by cooperation, democracy, the equitable distribution of resources and a sustainable relationship with nature.
The Cooperative Society is organized in three parts: a description