Capital social y cooperativas: la experiencia en el País Vasco

The Basque Country is internationally known for the strength of its cooperative movement. We are talking about the cultural roots of each community. From which live; the civic traditions, the norms of reciprocity the social commitment webs, the confidence and the shared attitudes and values that help people to reach the conflict and the competitivity, in order to make up relations of co-operation and mutual help under the shape of collective action. These are the necessary culture medium in order real specialists in co-operatives can spout up. Then, we will present the proper characteristics of cooperativism and its contributions to the social capital, with special incident to the developed experiment in the Basque Country. The cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, selfresponsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. Following the tradition of their founders, the co-operative members make the ethical values of honesty, transparency, responsibility and social vocation theirs. These are the principles and values that inspire real specialist in co-operatives, and the ones in which we encounter clear references to elements of social capital:, shared attitudes and values, participation and solidarity-inside and out of the group as well- co-operation, mutual help, common action, engagement with the community, and social responsibility.