Economie cooperative et formes de connaissance. Analyse de lenracinement cognitif au fondement des representations sociales de lactivite financiere dans les caisses deconomie au Quebec (1945--1996)

TitleEconomie cooperative et formes de connaissance. Analyse de lenracinement cognitif au fondement des representations sociales de lactivite financiere dans les caisses deconomie au Quebec (1945--1996)
Publication TypeThesis
Year of Publication2002
AuthorsBrochu P
AdvisorHoule G, Sabourin P
Academic DepartmentSociology
DegreeDoctor of Philosophy Ph.D.
Number of Pages264
UniversityUniversité de Montréal (Canada)
CityMontréal, QC
KeywordsCognitive embeddedness, Cooperatives, Credit unions, French text, Quebec, Social representations
Abstract

This thesis is interested by the origin and development of credit unions in Quebec. From a theoretical point of view, the thesis is a contribution to the New Economic Sociology (NES). The social construction of the economy is here demonstrated by focusing on cognitive embeddedness. Only the chapter 3.71, analysing kinship relationships in the case of credit union de lÉrable, offers an empirical illustration of structural embeddedness. In this thesis, economy is seen as a social construction by the cognitive embeddedness of formal rationality into social representations (re-defined here as social modalities of knowledge). Our research question was: What is the form and content of cognitive embeddedness of formal rationality in social representations in the case of working place cooperative financial institutions?The history of the Fédération des Caisses dÉconomie du Quebéc (FCÉQ) enables us to identify cultural, political, religious and economic representations that contributed to his origin and his development. Those social representations are here seen as characteristics of the FCÉQ but also of Quebec society in general. Through the description of FCÉQs modalities of development, it is possible to examine Quebec societys transition in the 60s, during the quiet Revolution, and the emerging economic representation of cooperative practices. The content analysis of FCÉQs annual reports stresses a general transformation, from the foundation of the cooperative institution in 1962 to 1996. In describing its explicit means and goals, we first see the FCÉQ emerging as a political form (1962-68), then transforming into a juridical one (1969-72). The last periods are characterized by a duality, individual (1973-84) vs. collective (1979-84), that the associative form (1985-96) will try to rearticulate (1985-96).In the Firemen credit unions case, analysing the minutes of annual assemblies, we first noted a religious type of cognitive embeddedness (1945-67): in this section, the thesis proposed a sociological perspective demonstrating a cognitive adequacy between the French-Canadian catholic ethic and the cooperative form of economy. From 1968 to 74, a moralistic and humanitarian view characterized the development of this credit union. The last years (1975-80) will be characterized by the emergence of an administrative economic discourse that will become dominant.The credit union de lÉrable is included in the thesis in order to allow observation of the social construction of judgement in domestic loan granting, and to analyse trust, risk and uncertainty. In this case, we have examined the social representations of the domestic loan granting decisions, and the structural embeddedness of practices in kinship relationships.

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