Held by several liberal thinkers to be the central principle of liberal philosophy, neutrality has always been interpreted as a strictly political concept. This exclusive interpretation is based upon, amongst other things, the idea that it is the State that possesses a monopoly in the use of coercion. The present thesis maintains that the private firm also possesses a degree of coercitive power, which it may exercise in order to ensure that individuals adhere to a particular conception of the good life. The market economic system can thus give rise to firms that do not respect liberal philosophys fundamental principle. Philosophically speaking, the demonstration that the firm does indeed possess a degree of coercitive power serves to cast doubt upon the idea that the principle of neutrality is strictly political in nature. Against this background, the thesis analyses the behaviour of different types of private firm as they evolve in the market system, with a view to identifying the particular characteristics of those which respect the principle of neutrality.The exercise yields two main results: firstly, the firm must be the property of those who consume its product, and, secondly, power within the firm must be distributed in accordance with the level of consumption of its owners. The consumers cooperative is the kind of private firm that most closely approximates this theoretical model, if only insofar as power is distributed democratically and not in accordance with the number of transactions. In fact, the democratic nature of the cooperative may allow it to promote a particular conception of the good life. Philosophically speaking, therefore, the democratic characteristics of the consumers cooperative may result in firms of this kind being more communitarian than liberal. On the other hand, the present thesis maintains that the cooperatives adoption of such a communitarian orientation, as a result of its democratic features, actually goes against the values promoted by the Co-operative Movement. The thesis concludes that both the liberal philosophical position and the spirit of cooperativism would be better served by consumers cooperatives than by other types of private firm, and even moreso were the power within firms of this type to be distributed in accordance with the firms owners number of transactions.