Keywords: social cooperatives, cooperatives, co-operative movement, social entrepreneurship, community economy, solidarity economy, social work, case study In my contribution I would like to focus on cooperatives providing... [ view full abstract ]
Keywords: social cooperatives, cooperatives, co-operative movement, social entrepreneurship, community economy, solidarity economy, social work, case study
In my contribution I would like to focus on cooperatives providing social services and the use of social work in those organizations, as I will conduct a research in this area during my doctoral studies. In recent decades, social economy has become a topic that has been gaining more and more attention in discussions that are trying to find solutions to new social problems caused by the modernisation of postindustrial society. Here the social economy can be seen as a „tool“ that can help to solve those problems or to mitigate their consequences. Social cooperatives and cooperatives in general are important part of social economy and can play a significant role in this regard. In my opinion, they might especially be important in the field of social services, helping to ensure the provision of services that are needed and demanded. This is the main reason why I feel there should be paid more attention to research in this area, also in connection to the practice of social work, as social work can be seen as a „tool“ of social services.
The research that will be part of my dissertation thesis will be focused not only on cooperatives in the Czech Republic (which is my country of origin), but also in Italy. The reason why I chose Italy as the second country is because it is considered to be a cradle of social cooperative movement, has the longest legislatively grounded history of social economy in Europe, and therefore might represent a good source of useful information and practice that other countries could learn from. A new form of social enterprise – social cooperative – has been established already in 1991 in this country with the Act No. 381. The act provided a space and conditions for organizational form which is standing in between the “ordinary” for-profits and non-profits organizations and which can follow – both economic and social goals at the same time. On the other hand, the legal support of cooperatives providing social services in the Czech Republic is significantly lower, although social economy and cooperatives as such have strong roots in the history of this country. Different (not only) legal conditions for the cooperatives in the Czech Republic and Italy may of course cause differences in the practice of social work as well. That is why the main research question of my research will be: What are the differences between the practice of social work in cooperatives providing social services in the Czech Republic and cooperatives providing those services in Italy? My main goal will be to contribute to the practice of social work in this area in both countries. For fulfilling such an objective and answering the main research question I have chosen to do comparative case studies. The methodology will be based on the literature from Robert K. Yin and Robert E. Stake, however, I am currently working on the methodological part and any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
As regards to the theoretical background of my research I will focus on social economy concept and ideas and concepts that are connected to it, such as social entrepreneurship, community economy, solidarity economy or ideas and development of co-operative movement.
Hopefully, the results of my research will help to improve conditions for the practice of social work in cooperatives providing social services. My contribution at the conference and my thesis itself should be beneficial for those who would like to conduct research on cooperatives (and especially to those who would like to do case studies), for actors in the sector of social economy and anyone who is interested in the topic.
Literature resources:
YIN, Robert K. Case study research: design and methods. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Pu-blications, 1994, Applied social research methods series, vol. 5. ISBN 08-039-5663-0.
STAKE, Robert E. The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, c1995, xv, 175 p. ISBN 978-0803957671.
DENZIN, Norman K, LINCOLN, Yvonna S. The SAGE handbook of qualitative research. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2005, ISBN 07-619-2757-3
