Trending: Fall 2018
Nathan is on tourto promote his new book.
#InWithTheOld
Photos courtesy Nathan Schneider
Imagine a single concept that can generate bipartisan support in America’s current political climate.
Believe it or not, one professor says it exists: the cooperative movement.
“It has been supported equally by Democrats and Republicans for decades,” says Nathan Schneider, an assistant professor of media studies. “For instance, expanding employee ownership was on both the Democratic and Republican platforms in 2016. And both parties recently supported a new law to lighten the regulatory burden on credit unions, which are cooperative banks.”
In his new book, Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition That Is Shaping the Next Economy, Schneider explores the history and future of the movement for increased public, user and employee ownership.
Activists in the movement are interested in how co-ops can revolutionize America’s economic future—impacting ownership models for everything from newspapers to social media to the internet.
Schneider’s family history in part sparked his interest in the topic. His grandfather was president of a nationwide cooperative hardware store, and some members of his family first came to Colorado thanks to a co-op beet company that still operates today.
In a previous book—Thank You, Anarchy—he followed Occupy Wall Street activists seeking greater financial equality. After the protests, they embraced the co-op model.
“They turned to this tradition as something that could hold their values while also enabling them to work within the market,” he says. “But it’s also the tradition of my conservative grandpa.”