COOPERATING COMPETITORS - TEXEL FISHERMEN AND THEIR ORGANIZATIONS (C.1870-1930)

Fishermen are usually described as rugged individualists, fierce indep endent competitors wary of cooperation and ill-positioned to participa te in political bargaining. These characteristics are used to explain the oft-noted failure of institutionalized forms of collective action, such as voluntary associations, cooperatives, and unions. From the 18 70s fishermen on the Dutch island of Texel established a variety of su ch institutions. However, cooperation was usually limited to the local level. This particularism was due to sociocultural heterogeneity and divergent or even opposed interests. Moreover, many voluntary associat ions were short-lived and others were frequently established. In the s ix decades following 1870, over twenty associations were founded. Ther e was clearly a willingness to cooperate, as is illustrated by data on trade cooperatives and attempts to create mutual insurance and widows ' and orphans' funds. For various reasons, it proved hard to maintain sustained institutionalized solidarity.