Alternative Organisations and (In)equality: Institutional Voids and Subjectivities in a Refugee Women’s Cooperative

This study draws on Labour Process Theory to examine how institutional voids and socio-cultural subjectivities contribute to the persistence of inequality within alternative organisations. Based on a case study of a refugee women’s cooperative in Turkey, I show how the inequalities that characterise the lives of refugees are maintained in a cooperative that is poorly designed to uphold the values and principles of alternative organising. The analysis reveals that formal institutional voids, such as the absence of a supportive legal framework and a top-down governance model, together with internalised subjectivities shaped by patriarchy and authoritarianism, constrain members’ expectations of voice. These dynamics influence the refugee women’s everyday working experiences and result in limited social interactions that remain embedded in societal hierarchies. The findings show that the transformative potential of cooperatives can be undermined by the very social and institutional orders they aim to challenge.