Principle of «concern for community»: beyond «social responsibility» in cooperatives

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate the principle of cooperatives Concern for Community represents the way cooperatives interact to its community, especially in a social aspect. Thus there is no need of using the terminology «Social Responsibility for Cooperatives» once the cooperative principle already encompasses the social actions of the cooperative in a more complete and organic way. This discussion is related to traditional mimicry of cooperatives management (technics and tools) from management of companies, which weakens the identity of cooperatives. This text also demonstrates the Theory of Giving can support the theory and practice of the Concern for Community principle.