Creating health-promoting spaces for change within the economy
The role of food co-operatives in England
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22945316 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Amy Barnes (0000-0002-8122-9792, Public Health and Society, Health Sciences, University of York , York, YO10 5NB, corresponding author), Maddy Power (0000-0002-9571-1782, Department of Public Health, Environment and Society, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , London, WC1H 9SH), Maddy Sarah Power (Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene), K Kennedy (0009-0002-2514-0985, University of York) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Health Promotion International (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0957-4824 • E-ISSN: 1460-2245 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/heapro/daag038 |
| PMID | 41853936 |
| OpenAlex | W7139123167 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 28 |
Public health is in crisis, with health inequalities and environmental degradation reflecting failures and uneven power in our economy. There is interest in the potential of co-ops to address these issues. However, limited research explores if or how co-ops could reshape power dynamics towards health promotion within our current economy or wider transformation of it. Drawing on an understanding of health as the ‘capabilities for everyday living’ and power to live a life you value, as well as the concept of ‘space’, this article explores power dynamics in and around co-ops and how these shape co-ops’ role in promoting health. While focusing on food co-ops and the economy in England, the findings offer broader learning. Based on a mixed qualitative methods study (March–July 2024), we show how three types of co-ops (established-scaled worker co-ops, ‘emanant’ worker co-ops, and community organizing co-ops) all act as enabling spaces for distributing power within the current economy; specifically, creating conditions for members to exert control in their lives (at work, in food systems and local areas), including through meaningful participation, access to affordable food and a more equal income. Co-ops also create other opportunities for meaningful connection and purpose which co-op members value as important for their wellbeing. However, the capacity of co-ops to exert wider transformation is constrained by their wider political, economic and social context, including the relative isolation in which they operate. Without broader collective mobilization to scale out, their full public health potential is unlikely to be realized.
Food systems · Health promotion · Inequality · Power (physics) · Promotion (chess) · Public health · Qualitative research · Scale (ratio) · Value (mathematics) · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · Obesity and Health Practices · Organic Food and Agriculture
Spaces of Capital
Patterns of Cooperative Management
Towards a transformative food politics
Food in the Anthropocene
Concepts of space and power in theory and in political practice
Inclusion and Democracy
Analyzing Biographies and Narratives
Another organization is possible
Gender In/equality in Worker‐owned Businesses
Freedom, domination and the gig economy
Diverse economies and alternative spaces
Shifting plates in the agrifood landscape
Cooperative cities
Finding the Spaces for Change
Producing and Reducing Gender Inequality in a Worker-Recovered Cooperative
Counterspaces against the odds? The production and emancipatory potential of alternative spaces
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Corporations and the cost of living crisis
It's a Co-op in Spirit, That's What It Is
Spaces for Citizen Involvement in Healthcare
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |