Johnston Birchall

Johnston Birchall (1951–2021) was a leading British academic in the field of co-operative studies and at the time of his death Professor Emeritus at the Social Science Faculty of the University of Stirling.^[1][2][3]

Johnston Birchall
Born	1951 (1951)
Died	2021 (aged 69–70)
Occupations	Academic Co-operator
Academic background
Education	University of Oxford University of York (PhD)
Thesis	Housing Co-operatives: A Study in the Theory and Practice of User-control (1985)
Academic work
Discipline	Co-operative studies
Institutions	South Bank Polytechnic Brunel University University of Stirling

Biography

Birchall studied theology at the University of Oxford, before working as a community worker and a housing association manager for five years. He then completed a masters degree in sociology at the University of York, followed by a PhD in 1985 on housing co-operatives, also at York.^[4][5] His doctoral thesis formed the basis for his 1988 book, Building Communities: The Co-operative Way.^[6]

Birchall then worked at South Bank Polytechnic, followed by Brunel University and finally at the University of Stirling until his retirement.^[7] From 1995 to 2000 he was editor of the Journal of Co-operative Studies.^[5]

Birchall died in 2021 following a long illness.^[8] In June 2022 a special commemorative edition of the Journal of Co-operative Studies was published exploring Birchall's legacy and reprinting many of his papers.^[9]

Publications

• — (1987). Save Our Shop: The Fall and Rise of the Small Co-operative Store. Manchester: Holyoake Books. ISBN 0-85195-142-2. OCLC 19126199.
• — (1988). Building Communities: The Co-operative Way. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0-7102-1143-0. OCLC 16465060.
• — (1988). What Makes People Co-operate? A Strategy For Member Participation in Housing Co-operatives. Oxford: Headington. ISBN 0-9514687-0-7. OCLC 20418136.
• — (1991). The Hidden History of Co-operative Housing in Britain. London: Brunel University, Department of Government. ISBN 1-872166-56-3. OCLC 59911747.
• — (1991). Council Tenants: Sovereign Consumers or Pawns in the Game?. London: Brunel University, Department of Government. ISBN 1-872166-51-2. OCLC 84931167.
• —, ed. (1992). Housing Policy in the 1990s. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-203-32414-5. OCLC 52280818.
• — (1992). Housing Co-operatives in Britain. London: Brunel University, Department of Government. ISBN 1-872166-96-2. OCLC 28010909.
• — (1994). Co-op: The People's Business. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-4421-9. OCLC 29520554.
• — (1997). The International Co-operative Movement. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-4823-0. OCLC 37373463.
• Pollitt, Christopher; —; Putnam, Keith (1998). Decentralising Public Service Management. Basingstoke: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-69402-3. OCLC 40383484.
• —, ed. (2002). The New Mutualism in Public Policy. Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-54946-7.
• — (2003). Rediscovering the Cooperative Advantage: Poverty Reduction Through Self-Help. Geneva: International Labour Office. hdl:1893/3242. ISBN 92-2-113603-5. OCLC 62700247.
• — (2004). Cooperatives and the Millennium Development Goals (PDF). Geneva: International Labour Office. ISBN 92-2-116148-X. OCLC 224463565.
• —; Ketilson, Lou Hammond (2009). Resilience of the Cooperative Business Model in Times of Crisis (PDF). Geneva: International Labour Organization. ISBN 978-92-2-122409-9. OCLC 406236822.
• — (2011). People-Centred Businesses: Co-operatives, Mutuals and the Idea of Membership. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/9780230295292. ISBN 978-0-230-21718-8. OCLC 646112058.
• — (2013). Finance In An Age of Austerity: The Power of Customer-owned Banks. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78195-183-5. OCLC 828417236.
• — (2013). Resilience in a Downturn: The Power of Financial Cooperatives. Geneva: International Labour Office. ISBN 978-92-2-127031-7. OCLC 854520704.
• — (2017). The Governance of Large Co-operative Businesses. Manchester: Co-operatives UK.

Further reading

• "Johnston Birchall – An appreciation". Journal of Co-operative Studies. 55 (1). Summer 2022.