ABSTRACT
In the developing countries, the long identification of cooperatives with the government has left, until today, a negative image of cooperatives as dependent on the Registrar, especially in former British colonies, where the Registrar has been compared ‘preserver’ and Shiva of cooperatives. A survey of cooperative images held in Japan revealed that, when asked what comes to their mind when they hear the word ‘cooperation’ and ‘agricultural cooperatives’ 33 per cent and 16 per cent of the respondents answered ‘nothing’, respectively. The stereotypical image of ‘cooperative’ in Israel is the bus transport company and not the kibbutz, which has always considered itself as a meta-cooperative phenomenon. Stereotypes are commonly, but not necessarily, accompanied by prejudices, i.e. by favourable or unfavourable predisposition towards any member of the category in question.
