The Renaissance of Cooperation: the Search for Economic Rationality and Socio-spiritual Meanings

Abstract

The article is devoted to the philosophical understanding of the phenomenon of cooperation, its role in achieving a new quality of being. The authors con­sider the current stage of development of society as a period of formation of conditions for the renaissance of cooperative forms of management, the re­vival of the ideas of cooperation and the collective spirit. The integrative func­tions of cooperation, its functional roles in the process of opposition to social entropy and disorganization are singled out. The authors come to the conclu­sion about the dual nature of cooperation, the ambivalence of the goals of co­operative practices, located on a continuum between economic rationality, satisfaction of reasonable selfish needs and transcendental meanings of harmo­nization of social life. The conclusion is substantiated that the imbalance be­tween the socio-spiritual and economic principles of cooperation becomes a source of dysfunctions, inversion of cooperative models. The following risks of the implementation of cooperative initiatives in the conditions of absolutiza­tion of the values of success are determined: destructive practices of ignoring collective interests, prioritization of personal gain, violation of ethical norms, contractual obligations. The article analyzes the influence of labor traditions, norms and national cultural code on the formation of cooperative forms of management.