I’m Nathan Schneider, a writer, editor, and professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. I’ve published a book each on God and the Occupy movement. Writing articles for a variety of publications—like Harper’s, The Nation, Vice, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Catholic Worker—keeps my notebooks filled. The column I write for the Catholic weekly America feeds my faith. Editing the online religion magazine Killing the Buddha keeps me odd, and Waging Nonviolence, a publication I co-founded, keeps me up on struggles for justice around the world. I suppose what I’m after is the chronicling of ideas, of perfect worlds, of ordinary imaginations in practice. My method is speculative. Every word is hypothesis—while recognizing fearfully that with even the most casual remark we are building ourselves and our world irrevocably.
Co-ops Need Leaders, Too
I frequently encounter a notion, among those drawn to cooperatives, that a cooperative should be an amorphous, faceless collective in which old-world skills and norms of leadership can be discarded.
May 17, 2019
Everything for Everyone
Cooperatives are a way of introducing people to a radical vision of the commons that also includes familiar stuff like Visa, Associated Press, and the credit union down the street. But I wouldn’t claim cooperatives are sufficient. They’re a starting point, a gateway to more diverse and widespread commoning.
September 14, 2018
How Co-ops Can Help Spread the Benefits of Automation
There are two stories commonly told about robots these days. One is that, in the not-too-distant future, some enormous percentage of jobs currently being done by people will be taken over by computers, and the workers will be left twiddling their thumbs. The other is that, like past periods of technological change, job markets will simply evolve, and new, better things will arise for us to do. The truth is neither – and everything in between.
February 23, 2018
We Need our Platforms to Be Real Democracies
Governments should recognize that cooperative platforms will mean more wealth staying in their communities and serving their constituents. Rather than trying (and failing) to say “no” to the likes of Uber, platform co-ops are something public institutions can say “yes” to.
April 19, 2017
How a Worker-Owned Tech Startup Found Investors—and Kept Its Values
Loomio is part of a new wave of entrepreneurs figuring out how to finance a more democratic, values-centered online economy.
May 4, 2016
10 Lessons from Kenya’s Remarkable Cooperatives
For many people concerned about inequality in the United States, cooperatives represent a beacon of hope.
May 8, 2015