The dissemination of cooperativism in society raises issues about its discursive construction because it is presented as having a single meaning in public documents prepared by universities, institutions and companies. A study to deconstruct the term was accomplished, according to the presuppositions of Social Constructionism, in three periods: a) in the middle of the 19th century, taking Rochdale, England as the reference point; b) in the beginning of the 20th century, when the cooperativism was tied to the International Cooperative Alliance; and c) the beginning of the 21st century, when the cooperativism, as an organizational notion, takes on the most different meanings in Sao Paulo. In the public papers accessed, the cooperative system presented three diffuse meanings or notions, which are the doctrinal, the organizational, and the one of place. The doctrinal notion, which has moral precepts, is emphasized in the first two periods. The organizational notion is emphasized in the last period. The notion of place, where the cooperatives formed by the collective are located, is emphasized in the first period.
cooperativism; history of cooperativism; cooperative organizations
