ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to reconstruct the Guild's reform ideology and methodology and to demonstrate application in four distinct areas of economic inquiry. The four areas of economic inquiry are the minimum wage for co-operatively employed women, credit and poverty, the debate over producer's co-operatives, and women's isolation in the household sector. Two features characterized written contributions of the Women's Co-operative Guild. First, the writings grew out of an ideologically driven reform movement holding that the institutions of capitalism failed most people; fundamental structural changes were necessary to achieve a range of goals with wide normative appeal. Second, the Women's Co-operative Guild melded their reform vision into social and political campaign strategies aimed at achieving specific goals. The guilds women's methodology to reach reform objectives includes a distinct set of characteristics. Guild research was perhaps most creative in considering the economics surrounding the isolation and dependency of working-class housewives.
