Cooperation and persistence: a study of the collective action of peasants in Western Pará, Amazonia

• Autor(a) principal: Schmitz, Heribert
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Farias, Elielson Soares
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Redes (Santa Cruz do Sul. Online)
• Texto Completo: https://online.unisc.br/seer/index.php/redes/article/view/15016
• topic: Acción colectiva; Cooperación; Organización; Participación; Ação coletiva; Cooperação; Organização; Participação; Collective action; Cooperation; Organization; Participation

The article analyzes the persistence of collective action in the Transamazon Agricultural Cooperative (Coopetra), Western Pará State, and the strategies adopted by peasants to maintain the agroindustry and the cooperation that enable their way of life. The research methods were direct and participant observation, interviews using structured and semi-structured questionnaires, and documentary research. Observations were made at the general meetings and meetings of the cooperative's administrative council. Interviews were conducted in farmers' rural establishments between 2013 and 2014. The central category of this article is collective action. To understand the collective action of the actors that results in the persistence of cooperation we rely on the theory of sociology of organizations, focusing on the construction of self-management, forms of participation and power relations within the organization. We conclude that the participation of the actors – the associates – in the cooperative's decision spaces, the trust and the balanced power relationship facilitates the persistence of the enterprise.