Separatism and cooperation : Democratic participation, asset-building and narrative representations in  The Women’s Cooperative Society Swedish Homes, 1904-1916

Sammanfattning: Within the context of economic history, this case study discusses “separatist cooperation” as an organizational and economic strategy for addressing multiple forms of alienation and inequality. Unique in the European cooperative movement at the time, The Women’s Cooperative Society Swedish Homes (Kvinnornas Andelsförening Svenska Hem), active in Stockholm 1905-1916, is a case in point. Using a theoretical framework drawn from social and economic reconstruction as well as critical perspectives inspired by intersectionality, the study analyzes how arguments, practices and choices of Svenska Hem are manifested in terms of three themes/strategies of de-alienation: democratic participation, asset-building and narrative representation. Cutting through each of these themes/strategies, explicit and implicit conceptions of gender, class and group solidarity are critically analyzed. The results show that the separatist strategy in combination with cooperative organizing generated considerable movement energy and capital accumulation e.g. in the face of an organized boycott from competing (male) traders. Further, the women’s cooperative constituted a space for asset-building while negotiating the changing social role of women generally and housewives in particular. The analysis shows that Svenska Hem’s organization and narrative was marked by class bias, while striving to become a cooperative relevant to “women of all classes”, invoking the housewife-as-consumer as a collective with a shared interest.