The conflict resolution communication attempts practiced by a food cooperative were studied to determine if they revealed the primary ideals of the counterculture philosophy. To highlight the findings, the study also examined the conflict resolution communication attempts of a fraternity--a representative of the dominant culture philosophy. Data were gathered through participant observation, interviews, surveys, and reviews of the literature written by and about the organizations. Results showed that the conflict resolution communication attempts of the food cooperative were based on a counterculture philosophy on the organizational level (ritual, procedures, clothing styles, jargon, and norms), but were essentially the same as the fraternity conflict resolution communication attempts on the core philosophy level. The findings indicate that while the formal conflict resolution formats of the two groups differed, the power bases were the same, with power usually based on who had information and position. While the cooperative generally used a form of voting within the consensus process framework instead of the actual process consensus itself, the fraternity simply discussed an issue and then voted on it. The egalitarian ideals advocated by the cooperative were only superficially evident in its attempts to resolve conflicts. (FL)