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I think cooperatives have the potential to democratise work under Capitalism.
In 2022 I completed an MA in Global Creative and Cultural Industries at SOAS. I wrote my dissertation on the labour politics of the creative industries – specifically the potential of the cooperative model to create better working conditions for freelancers like myself.
My dissertation explored things like:
- New Labour’s 1990s Cultural Policy
- Critiques of the ‘Creative Cities’ idea for post-industrial knowledge economies
- Critiques of entrepreneurialism, specifically the idea of ‘Creative Entrepreneurship’
- The precarity of freelance labour in the Cultural Industries
- An auto-ethnography of my own journey in freelancing
- Local economies and Community Wealth Building
Contact me if you’d like to read it.
I now do really exciting work for SPACE4/Outlandish.
I ended up getting a job in the worker cooperative that was my case study, Outlandish. They run a project called SPACE4 where I have worked as Events and Partnerships Coordinator since October 2022. In June 2024 I became an official member of the coop.
SPACE4 is all about creating social and economic change by activating local economies. We do this through affordable workspace, networking + training events, and progressive tech projects. We’re particularly passionate about growing the the cooperative movement and spreading awareness about progressive economics.
I’ve been able to hear from some amazing professionals and organisations in the progressive economics space through my work. They make me excited about the future. Here’s some of the events I’ve curated. Do come along to something if you’re interested.
I’m knee-deep in the local and progressive economics movements.
My work at SPACE4 has provoked a real interest in and commitment to alternative (economic) ideas. Coops in particular seem to offer a tangible escape from some of the systemic problems we face today. Three ways that I’ve felt it personally, for example, are:
- I am empowered to change my working conditions day-to-day and at large (eg. appointments, hours, holiday, pay), there are no heirarchies.
- I have agency over the actual work I do and even the larger coop (eg. business strategy).
- We use an inspiring system of democratic decision-making called sociocracy which feels genuinely decentralised and effective.
- I am connected to a larger movement of politics at work through apex organisations like Coops UK.