Debunking Co-op Myths: 6 Common Misconceptions about Co-operatives

By Ruby Levine, originally published by Grassroots Economic Organising

October 5, 2016

6 Common Misconceptions about Cooperatives:

#1: "A co-op? That’s like … a hippie grocery store, right?"
#2: Co-ops are Basically All Non-Profits
#3: Co-ops Aren’t Scalable
#4: Co-ops Have No Structure
#5: Co-ops Are Only For Rich White People
#6: Co-ops Don’t Have an Economic Impact

Recorded for the North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO) Shared Resource Library

Ruby Levine

Tags: co-operatives, new economy

Walter P. Reuther Library

Preserving labor history in the present, for the future

By Marianne Dhenin, YES! magazine

Labor activists take steps to preserve the documents and strategies they use today, so future organizers will have a practical guide.

September 8, 2026

Picket at University of Edinburgh

Rebuilding the trade union movement: ‘Dare to struggle, dare to win’

By Paul O’Connell, Red Pepper

To rebuild the trade union movement, to meaningfully defend the right to strike, and to begin a serious fightback against the imposition of the costs of capitalism’s crisis on the working class, we need to put our energy into workplace and community organising

September 7, 2026

Beyond the supermarket: What Greece’s alternative food networks teach us about degrowth

By Eirini-Erifyli Tzekou, Degrowth.info

Thessaloniki’s grassroots food networks offer a glimpse of what food systems organized around care and democracy, rather than profit and endless growth, can look like.

August 27, 2026

Comments

Welcome to the new Resillience commenting system!

We have moved from the former Disqus commenting system to a new system as of September 10, 2026.

  • Your past comments have not disappeared.
  • You can log in with your old Disqus credentials, as well as Gmail credentials or a Resilience account (formerly Resilience+). Login with Facebook and other credentials is coming soon.

We made this change because of privacy concerns regarding Disqus. It's also part of a set of changes to bring more services to the Resilience community under a single login: commenting, (coming September 2026), and online courses (coming 2027). Unfortunately, your old Disqus comments may not reliably link to your account in this new system. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted