@article{article_1789842, title={From Accumulation to the Collective: Empowerment through Cooperativism Case Study}, journal={OPUS Journal of Society Research}, volume={22}, pages={1394–1408}, year={2025}, DOI={10.26466/opusjsr.1789842}, author={Kara, Halise Hande and Cankurtaran, Özlem}, keywords={feminist social work, empowerment, women, collectivisation, case presentation.}, abstract={This narrative analysis examines how individual empowerment processes evolve into collectivisation through a woman’s life story and explores the potential of women’s cooperatives from a feminist social work perspective. Based on an in-depth interview conducted within a feminist methodological framework, the analysis identifies three core themes: accumulation, collectivisation, and relearning through new experiences. The findings show that despite academic success and economic independence, the narrator encountered gender roles and patriarchal pressures that shaped her empowerment trajectory. Growing awareness of these constraints enabled a shift from individual empowerment toward collective solidarity. While women’s cooperatives function as social structures that can strengthen agency through solidarity and experience sharing, they may also produce disempowering dynamics when partnership awareness is weak and knowledge sharing is resisted. Overall, the analysis highlights the critical role of women’s cooperatives in linking individual empowerment to broader processes of collective learning and social transformation.}, number={6}, publisher={İdeal Kent Yayınları}