异化抑或创新?——对中国农民合作社特殊性的理论思考

Alienation or Innovation? A Theoretical Reflection on the Particularity of Chinese Farmers' Cooperatives

本文试图探讨三个涉及中国农民合作社发展的根本问题:(1)中国的农民合作社是否特殊?(2)如果中国农民合作社的特殊性是既定的,那么,它为什么特殊?(3)这些"中国特色"的合作社还是不是"合作社"?本文研究发现,基于Leavitt的组织模型,作为舶来品的合作社在目标、参与者(成员)、技术(文化)和社会结构等基本组织要素方面均呈现出鲜明的中国本土特色。从历史因素和制度因素考察,中国的农民合作社之所以会呈现出特色形态,是因为其背后隐含着两大关键机制——先赋的产业化机制与引致的合法化机制。通过回归合作社制度硬核,并适当放宽合作社的定义域,本文认为,可以将"惠顾"划分为"直接惠顾"和"间接惠顾"。进而,本文推断,当前中国大多数农民合作社是具有合作制属性、同时产业化和制度性色彩鲜明的股份合作制的改进型(且为过渡型)中间组织,这些合作社并非异化的或伪形的合作社,而是富有中国本土特色的创新形态。

This article tries to answer three fundamental questions that relate to the development of farmers＇ cooperatives in China. Are Chinese farmers＇ cooperatives special？ If they are special, then why？ Are these cooperatives with the Chinese characteristics still cooperatives？ Based on Leavitt＇s organization model, the study finds that farmers＇ cooperatives in China as exotic products are showing distinctive Chinese characteristics in terms of basic organizational elements, such as goals, participants （members）, technology （culture） and social structure. From the historical and institutional perspectives, two key mechanisms explain the special form of Chinese farmers＇ cooperatives, i.e. a congenital industrialization mechanism and an induced legalization mechanism. The study proposes to divide ＇~atronage＂ into ＂direct patronage＂ and ＂indirect patronage＂, taking into accounts both fundamental principles of cooperatives and their broader definition domain. It concludes that most of Chinese farmers＇ cooperatives have cooperative properties, which are industrialized and institutionalized. They are improved intermediate organizations in shareholding cooperative system. These cooperatives are not alienated or ill-shaped, but rather innovative forms rich in Chinese characteristics.