How does membership contribute to social cohesion?
How are locally based identities affected in an age of globalization?
How are member-based businesses affected by the new economy?
What can Canadian policy-makers learn from Canada's largest sector
of member-based organizations?

The Centre for the Study of Co-operatives at the University of Saskatchewan coordinated a three-year national study of co-operatives. This was the largest research project on co-operatives ever undertaken in Canada, with an estimated total cost of $2.2 million. A grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Strategic Themes program provided the main in-cash contribution of $589,000 with other contributions, mostly "in-kind," coming from participating universities, co-operatives, and other partners.

The interdisciplinary research team included 15 academic co-investigators from universities across the country and more than 20 community partners from Nunavut to Halifax to Victoria. The project explored the extent to which co-operatives reflect or contribute to social cohesion or a common sense of identity in the communities where they are located. The project was arranged into four broad and overlapping clusters of research—urban consumers, rural regionalization and other changing definitions of community, Aboriginal cultures, and information technologies. The purpose of our project, through each of these four clusters, was to produce publications and practical ideas to meet the needs of academics, students of co-operatives, and governments. More...

About the Centre The Centre for the Study of Co-operatives is an interdisciplinary teaching and research centre at the University of Saskatchewan. Established in 1984, the Centre offers university courses on co-operative related topics; undertakes original research into co-operatives; has an active publications program; and maintains a resource centre collection to support the research and teaching functions of the Centre.   For more information contact us at: Centre for the Study of Co-operatives phone: 306.966.8509 coop.studies@usask.ca

Photo © Lucas A. Sather