Woodin, Tom;
(2023)
The uses of Robert Owen in co-operative education, 1844-1939.
Journal of Co-operative Studies
, 56
(3)
pp. 38-49.
10.61869/uual9194.
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Abstract
Robert Owen has cast a long, benign shadow over the co-operative movement. In the early nineteenth century, his strand of utopian thinking punctured the emerging and increasingly dominant laissez-faire ideas of a new generation of political economists and highlighted the possibilities of a New Moral World. He became a central figure for the co-operative movement, particularly from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. In the creation of a co-operative story, Owen and Owenism served as pre-history, providing principles, ideas, motivation, and spirit that co-operators selectively adapted and put into practical action. He fitted into a narrative which commenced with the violent transitions of the Industrial Revolution and eventuated in a much-improved society with co-operators looking to a brighter future. While Owen was never viewed as a saint, accounts for children display elements of hagiography. Co-operative texts for children had to present wholesome influences which made it difficult to critique or selectively filter Owen’s ideas and character — rather he had to be presented as a thoroughly good person, a friend and hero. Historical nuance might be compromised in the desire to offer up a laudable model of the individual pioneer for future co-operative improvement.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The uses of Robert Owen in co-operative education, 1844-1939 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.61869/uual9194 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.61869/UUAL9194 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 License, which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the Creative Commons website and the Journal of Co-operative Studies re-use guidelines. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10186656 |
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