Seniorengenossenschaften

Senior cooperatives are a new kind of self-help organisation, in which community care is practised on the basis of mutual help. Based on the idea of the LETSystem, senior cooperatives use time accounts for all help provided and received. The stability of senior cooperatives relies on community involvement. Their economic structure moves from a balanced norm of exchange to a more generalised norm of reciprocity. As shown by several empirical research projects about senior cooperatives presented at the Seminar on Social Policy and Qualitative Methods of Social Research at the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology (ISS) at the University of Cologne, there are two central theses. Senior cooperatives are more than local exchange systems. They generate social capital, which results in sustainable cooperative and reciprocal networks. Therefore, senior cooperatives form an important structural element for the polity, politics and policy of public service provision and its infrastructure.