Unlearning for Democratic Organizing

Organization Studies · 2026 · Volume 47 · Issue 9

Abstract

This article advances empirical and conceptual understanding of how unlearning can help to sustain democratic organizing. While learning to confront persistent tensions is widely recognized as a central element of democratic organizing, there is surprisingly little research on its practice. In exploring this gap, unlearning emerged as a distinct yet integral aspect of individual and collective learning in democratic organizing – and to sustaining democratic organizing across time and scale. Our abductive analysis of qualitative research across four established (>20 years) and scaled (>50 members) UK-based worker cooperatives uncovered the centrality of relational processes of unlearning habitual beliefs, values and patterns of behaviour in interaction with others, the organization and the environment. Empirically, we discern three relational dynamics that create a need for unlearning and three relational practices for engaging in unlearning. We offer conceptual depth by formulating three analytical propositions for future research and practice.

Keywords

cooperatives, democratic organizing, grounded theory, organizational learning, relational process, unlearning

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