The Demographic Determinants of “Successful” Village Cooperatives

Worsley and his colleagues (1971) have drawn attention to the tendency in all traditional societies, to assume communal relations as ‘solidary’ in nature. The structure of village cooperatives is presumed to reinforce the solidarity of those relations. Anthropological analyses, however, have illustrated that communal relations range from those that could be termed ‘solidary’ to relations that are in direct conflict. The response of the local population to the changes introduced within the co-operative framework is therefore likely to be cross-culturally varied. Moreover, the demographic features of historically common conditions of a geographical area, it is argued, are also pertinent to the “success” that maybe expected of village cooperatives with reference to their stated objectives. The strength and identity of the socio-economic groups inhabiting a given geographical region play a role in defining local response to the changes introduced and their likely outcome.