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Participatory Bureaucracy: Addressing Gender Inequality in Worker Cooperatives

Author

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  • Joan S. M. Meyers

    (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (USA))

Abstract

Worker cooperativesÑfirms owned and governed by their workersÑhave experimented with organizational structure in aid of greater equality. Gender theorists and cooperativists have argued that bureaucracy produces inequality, but bureaucracy has also demonstrably reduced organizational inequality. By unpacking Òbureaucracy,Ó both discrete and mutually reinforcing effects of authority and organizational formalization are revealed. Using a comparative study of two highly formalized worker cooperatives, the inequality effects of formalized hierarchical and distributed management are identified: while formalization of managerial bureaucracy amplifies biases and intensifies inequality regimes, formalized but distributed participatory bureaucracy mutes and transforms biases and creates more egalitarian outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Joan S. M. Meyers, 2022. "Participatory Bureaucracy: Addressing Gender Inequality in Worker Cooperatives," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 11(1), pages 23-54.
    • Handle: RePEc:trn:csnjrn:v:11:i:1:p:23-54
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bureaucracy; Gender inequality; Gendered organizations; Inequality regimes; Worker cooperatives;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • J54 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Producer Cooperatives; Labor Managed Firms
    • P13 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Cooperative Enterprises
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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