IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/treure/v26y2020i2p157-174.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A freelancers’ cooperative as a case of democratic institutional experimentation for better work: a case study of SMart-Belgium

Author

Listed:
  • Julien Charles

    (CESEP and Université catholique de Louvain-IACCHOS-CriDIS, Belgium)

  • Isabelle Ferreras

    (FNRS and Université catholique de Louvain-IACCHOS-CriDIS, Belgium)

  • Auriane Lamine

    (Université catholique de Louvain-JURI-CRIDES, Belgium)

Abstract

This article discusses the experimentation led by SMart in Belgium, a worker cooperative founded to support freelance artists – and subsequently extended to other freelancers – with the aim of helping them reduce four forms of uncertainties that affect such workers. Over the past 20 years, SMart has sought to secure broader access to social protections for these workers, shifting its strategies to accommodate the changes in rules set by the Belgian federal state. Today, experimentation abounds for various types of intermediation with new forms of employment, but SMart is notable for its ambition to build a cooperative firm providing the protections of wage work to beneficiaries otherwise ignored by social policies. Based on qualitative research conducted from a Deweyan perspective, and 48 in-depth interviews with SMart worker-members, the authors examine the ways in which SMart can be considered an example of democratic institutional experimentation providing collective capabilities to its worker-members in pursuit of better work.

Suggested Citation

  • Julien Charles & Isabelle Ferreras & Auriane Lamine, 2020. "A freelancers’ cooperative as a case of democratic institutional experimentation for better work: a case study of SMart-Belgium," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(2), pages 157-174, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:26:y:2020:i:2:p:157-174
    DOI: 10.1177/1024258920919686
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1024258920919686
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1024258920919686?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marie-Christine Bureau & Antonella Corsani, 2018. "Collective actions on the margins of the salariat," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 24(3), pages 279-295, August.
    2. Chiara Benassi & Lisa Dorigatti, 2015. "Straight to the Core — Explaining Union Responses to the Casualization of Work: The IG Metall Campaign for Agency Workers," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(3), pages 533-555, September.
    3. Jean-Michel Bonvin, 2012. "Individual working lives and collective action. An introduction to capability for work and capability for voice," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(1), pages 9-18, February.
    4. Eve Chiapello & Luc Boltanski, 1999. "Le nouvel esprit du capitalisme," Post-Print hal-00680085, HAL.
    5. Virginie Xhauflair & Benjamin Huybrechts & François Pichault, 2018. "How Can New Players Establish Themselves in Highly Institutionalized Labour Markets? A Belgian Case Study in the Area of Project†Based Work," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(2), pages 370-394, June.
    6. Richard Hyman, 2016. "The very idea of democracy at work," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 22(1), pages 11-24, February.
    7. Virginie Xhauflair & Benjamin Huybrechts & François Pichault, 2018. "How Can New Players Establish Themselves in Highly Institutionalized Labour Markets? : A Belgian Case Study in the Area of Project-Based Work," Post-Print hal-02312100, HAL.
    8. Gérard Valenduc & Patricia Vendramin, 2017. "Digitalisation, between disruption and evolution," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(2), pages 121-134, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Isabelle Ferreras & Ian MacDonald & Gregor Murray & Valeria Pulignano, 2020. "Introduction: institutional experimentation for better (or worse) work," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(2), pages 113-118, May.
    2. Birgit Apitzsch & Maximiliane Wilkesmann & Caroline Ruiner & Mona Bassyiouny & Ronny Ehlen & Lena Schulz, 2023. "Labour market collectivism: New solidarities of highly skilled freelance workers in medicine, IT and the film industry," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(4), pages 1149-1175, November.
    3. Lisa Dorigatti & Francesco E. Iannuzzi & Valeria Piro & Devi Sacchetto, 2024. "Job quality in worker cooperatives: Beyond degeneration and intrinsic rewards," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(3), pages 591-613, September.
    4. Isabelle Ferreras & Ian MacDonald & Gregor Murray & Valeria Pulignano, 2020. "Einleitung: Institutionelles Experimentieren für bessere (oder schlechtere) Arbeit," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(2), pages 127-134, May.
    5. Gregor Murray & Christian Lévesque & Glenn Morgan & Nicolas Roby, 2020. "Disruption and re-regulation in work and employment: from organisational to institutional experimentation," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(2), pages 135-156, May.
    6. Isabelle Ferreras & Ian MacDonald & Gregor Murray & Valeria Pulignano, 2020. "L’expérimentation institutionnelle au travail, pour le meilleur (ou pour le pire)," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(2), pages 119-125, May.
    7. Justine Monique Florine Ballon & Thomas Blondeel & Marius Chevallier & Orville Pletschette, 2023. "Bringing democracy to life in cooperatives: ongoing experiments. The cases of Railcoop and SmartCoop," Post-Print hal-04576634, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bas A. S. Koene & François Pichault, 2021. "Embedded Fixers, Pragmatic Experimenters, Dedicated Activists: Evaluating Third‐Party Labour Market Actors’ Initiatives for Skilled Project‐Based Workers in the Gig Economy," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 444-473, June.
    2. Heiland, Heiner, 2020. "Workers' Voice in platform labour: An Overview," WSI Studies 21, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    3. Glenn Morgan & Valeria Pulignano, 2020. "Solidarity at Work: Concepts, Levels and Challenges," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(1), pages 18-34, February.
    4. David Vallat, 2015. "Une alternative au dualisme État-Marché : l’économie collaborative, questions pratiques et épistémologiques," Working Papers halshs-01249308, HAL.
    5. Bernard Billaudot, 2009. "L'ambivalence de la RSE. L'illusion de la coordination par le contrat," Post-Print halshs-00515194, HAL.
    6. Rachid Bagaoui, 2021. "Le management et la mobilisation des travailleurs : de l’illusio aux désillusions," Post-Print hal-03680299, HAL.
    7. Yoann Verger, 2015. "Sraffa and ecological economics: review of the literature," Working Papers hal-01182894, HAL.
    8. Virginie Xhauflair & Benjamin Huybrechts & François Pichault, 2018. "How Can New Players Establish Themselves in Highly Institutionalized Labour Markets? A Belgian Case Study in the Area of Project†Based Work," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(2), pages 370-394, June.
    9. Robert Boyer, 2007. "Growth strategies and poverty reduction: the institutional complementarity hypothesis," Working Papers halshs-00587703, HAL.
    10. Pierre Pech & Cédissia About & Nathalie Frascaria-Lacoste & Phlippe Jacob & Laurent Simon, 2017. "Analyse des processus de renaturation en tissu urbain dense en relation avec des infrastructures linéaires de transport urbaines et leurs emprises : le cas de la Métropole du Grand Paris," Working Papers halshs-01802392, HAL.
    11. Fabien Jakob, 2022. "Collective action towards a greener order of worth: protecting a common cultural and natural heritage," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 32(1), pages 625-642, June.
    12. Thomas Amossé & Gaëtan Flocco & Josette Lefèvre & Jean-Marie Pernot & Héloïse Petit & Frédéric Rey & Michèle Tallard & Carole Tuchszirer & Catherine Vincent, 2012. "Les organisations patronales. Continuités et mutations des formes de représentation du patronat," Working Papers hal-00684075, HAL.
    13. Ji-Whan Yun, 2016. "The Setback in Political Entrepreneurship and Employment Dualization in Japan, 1998–2012," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(3), pages 473-495, September.
    14. Jean-Pierre Bréchet & Hélène Journé-Michel & Nathalie Schieb-Bienfait, 2008. "Figures de la conception et de l’innovation dans l’artisanat," Post-Print hal-01417042, HAL.
    15. repec:hal:journl:halshs-04902227 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Vitale, Tommaso Prof, 2024. "La contractualisation des services sociaux," SocArXiv m8fkp, Center for Open Science.
    17. Daniel Innerarity, 2013. "A Concept of the Global to Conceive Global Governance. Four Metaphorical Proposals," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 6, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    18. Tuomas Ylä-Anttila & Eeva Luhtakallio, 2016. "Justifications Analysis: Understanding Moral Evaluations in Public Debates," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 21(4), pages 1-15, November.
    19. Isabela dos Santos Paes & Jean-Luc Moriceau & Géraldine Guérillot & Julien Billion, 2014. "Entrepreneur et salarié : parcours et identités dans le portage salarial," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-02394355, HAL.
    20. Nicolas da Silva & Jean-Paul Domin, 2016. "Assurance et métrologie : le grand tournant de la médecine capitaliste," Post-Print hal-02077563, HAL.
    21. David Vallat, 2016. "An Alternative to State-Market Dualism: The Sharing Economy. Practical and Epistemological Questions," Post-Print halshs-01331107, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:26:y:2020:i:2:p:157-174. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.