Myth of Mondragon

Sharryn Kasmir is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology/Anthropology at Knox College.

"The topic—class consciousness, struggle, and cooperativism—is significant for several reasons. First, Mondragón cooperatives have been the object of much attention by social scientists, but previous work has viewed them from managers', not workers' perspectives. By using the perspective of workers, Kasmir not only shows that there is conflict between managers and workers in the cooperatives, but that workers in cooperatives and in private factories have not always acted together. This perspective also enables her to draw out very effectively the links between managers, the ideology of cooperativism, and Basque nationalist politics."Second, the analysis of cooperatives and class in Mondragon has important broader implications about contemporary class patterns. By looking at the ideology of cooperativism in its larger political and social context at different times, Kasmir raises important questions for class analysis elsewhere." — Frances Rothstein, Towson State University

• List of Illustrations Foreword by June C. Nash Preface Acknowledgments Notes on the Text Introduction: The Mondragón Model and the Remaking of Industrial Working Classes 1. Making the Myth of Mondragón 2. The History of Mondragón as a Working-Class Town 3. Cooperativism and Middle-Class Reforms 4. Remaking the Basque Working Class 5. Comparing a Cooperative and a Standard Private Firm 6. Fagor Clima and Mayc, S. A. 7. Cooperatives, Politics, and Working-Class Life Conclusions Appendix: Basque Syndicates, Political Organizations, and Parties Notes Works Cited Index