Valorização da administração e da cooperativa no subsistema rural: um estudo de caso

Abstract

The general objective of this study was to confirm the existence of the administrative fact, even in rural enterprises of the most rudimentar organization. Use was made of a modified version of the administrative fact model for more complex organizations, proposed by Guerreiro Ramos. In specific : the dairy producer's decision, favorable or contrary, concerning the local dairy cooperative was isolated from the administrative fact in this study. Weberian social action theory was employed in the analysis of this type of decision. In fulfilling research objetives, twenty - nine cooperative members and twenty-eight non-members were interviewed in the geographical area of one município in the Brazilian Physiografic Zone, Southern Minas Gerais.

Data collection techniques utilized were individual questionnaires consisting of both open and closed questions. The measure was applied to each respondent within the two sample groups, according to a structured interview schedule. Twenty-nine variables were categorized in three groupings : individual variables, infrastructural variables and structural variables. These variables provided analytical and descriptive elements of the rural administrative fact. It was confirmed that even the most elementary form of rural organization - the family enterprise - cannot dispense with administration. Explanatory variables of the administrative fact supported analyses of the final variable - the dairy producer's decision concerning the cooperative. Within the analytical possibilities of Weberian social action theory, approximation among a number o& given cases> was selected. Two approximations were devised : one for members, the other for non members. Finally, exceptions to both categories were annotated separately, that is, those cases which in virtue of their heterogeneity could not be included in the approximations. It was verified that valuation of the cooperative is more a function of its urban social group characteristics, rather than its function as a problem-solving instrument utilized by dairy producers in their rural enterprises. Moreover, the devaluation process of the cooperative has a cumulative character, and is generated and reinforced by the cooperative organization itself. In other words, both categories of producers perceive a duality in the conduct of the cooperative. When exercising rights, the cooperative performs as a cooperative enterprise ; in exercising

responsibilities, it performs as a capitalist enterprise. This syndrome constitutes part of the impasse in which one encounters the cooperative , both with respect to members and non-members; members, by manifested lack of enthusiasm, non-members by refusal to participate. Through Weberian social action analysis, it was confirmed that in an approximate form, members conduct themselves in accordance with rational action according to determinate endò ; non-members present, in an approximate manner, a transi tional behavior pattern, or that of a combination of traditional action and rational action according to determinate endò. The last is a hybrid form of Weberian social action. Despite difficulties related to the split within the theoretical frame of reference, the present study demonstrates the importance of analysing the cooperative, both from the perspectives of current and potential employers of this aspect of administrative fact, i.e., participation in a cooperative. Finally, proposed analytical models constitute a contribution to the Sociology of Adminstration due to the unprecedented nature of their application in a rural context. It is stressed, howewer , that this study was not an attempt at generalizations ; results pertain but to one comc. Extrapolation of results in whatever form is not admissable according to objectives of this study.