SOCI 395: Special Topics in Sociology
SOCI 395-002: Cooperatves & Social Entrprses
(Spring 2025)
01:30 PM to 02:45 PM TR
Van Metre Hall (formerly Founders Hall) 311 - Hybrid
Section Information for Spring 2025
This course introduces students to historical and contemporary forms of business organization that seek to solve critical social problems. The persistent problems of unemployment (both job creation and retention), poverty, inequality, social exclusion, poor social services, and environmental degradation call for new, innovative solutions that have eluded both purely market-based and solely public-sector approaches. Particularly following the 2007-2008 global financial crisis and the rapid institutional integration of advanced digital technologies, new and wide-ranging forms of cooperatives and social enterprises have emerged around the world in response to social challenges and needs. In general, as with other private sector businesses, cooperatives and social enterprises produce goods and services for the market. However, there are distinct characteristics that differentiate them from other organizational types.
We will examine the legal structures and relations of power, as well as the social, economic, and ecological sustainability, of cooperatives (business organizations that are democratically controled and jointly owned by its members and which work in the interest of its members), social enterprises (business organizations that conduct an activity with the main purpose of meeting the needs of persons – i.e., a “social mission,” often related to community goals or public interest – rather than remunerating capitalist investors), as well as socially transformative hybrid versions these organizations, including social cooperatives, digital platform cooperatives, municipal enterprises, and sovereign native corporations. We also will explore the ways these business organizations are working to democratize the economy while pursuing community wealth building strategies, and defend and advance a host of social movements, including human rights, rights of nature, indigenous people’s rights, women’s rights, labor rights, rights to the city, data privacy rights and more.
Note: This course is a prerequisite for students who wish to do fully funded learning trips with one of our four new project sites in the following locations: Costa Rica; Oaxaca, Mexico; Kerala, India; and Louisa County, Virginia.
This is a hybrid section with face-to-face meetings and synchronous live video meetings.
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Course Information from the University Catalog
Credits: 3
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
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