ABSTRACT
Patronage refund as the typical form of distribution of surpluses in cooperatives, as distinct from the payment of an interest on member shares, can be seen as part of the socio-economic tension and as a means to ease it. By increasing the distance between the economic and the social, the prevailing economic system would favour the polarisation between the capital-intensive strong cooperatives and the human-intensive economically weak ones. The big and strong cooperatives – mainly consumer, production, agricultural and credit – are seen by the economic and political establishments as a threat to their interests and have therefore to be curtailed. A cooperative can be a genuine one without any form of distribution, the emphasis being rather on precluding distribution according the kind and amount of member equity. The notion of social economy entails the inclusion, under the same roof, of organisations like cooperatives, mutuals and associations.
