Abstract
There is growing interest in the potential of grassroots innovations for the transition towards more just and sustainable societies. Nevertheless, there is lack of clear normative discussion regarding these processes. The paper strives to propose and test a framework that enables an analysis of how and in which sense specific grassroots innovation processes may be contributing to the construction of more just societies. To this end, we connect elements of the multi-level perspective on sociotechnical transitions (frequently used in the analysis of grassroots innovations) with elements of the capability approach, which offers a multi-dimensional perspective to justice. The framework is used to address two purposively selected empirical cases in two key sectors in Spain: an energy cooperative and a food purchasing group. We draw on the information of 25 individual interviews with members of these two cases, on observation, and on secondary sources. Information was processed by means of a qualitative content analysis. We draw on predefined categories from the framework, which was refined during the analysis. The paper illustrates that grassroots innovations may be contributing to justice in several aspects: they expand capabilities in different dimensions, improve public reasoning processes, and create better structural conditions for human flourishing. Nevertheless, these processes are not free of tensions and contradictions.
Highlights
Movements creating alternative everyday life practices as a form of political action have gained increasing attention in recent decades [1,2]
As state power is shifting towards other stakeholders with no democratic control, addressing social change directly through the politicisation of everyday life is becoming an increasingly relevant strategy [2]
Some people taking part in the food groups accept that they pay more for some products, but that the information they possess allows them make purchasing decisions that, in the end, reduce their overall monthly food expenditure
Summary
Movements creating alternative everyday life practices as a form of political action have gained increasing attention in recent decades [1,2] They may be one of the most emblematic transformative movements in present times, creating “counter-flows of democratic power and more sustainable systems and flows of food, energy, water, and materials through local communities and environment” [3] There is a growing interest in how citizens have the potential to contribute to—or even lead—the transition to more sustainable and just societies, by transforming patterns of everyday production, exchange, and consumption of goods and services [7,8] This potential has been explored for cases both in the Global North and in the Global South [9]. Some works reveal the wide transformative potential of bottom-up innovations and the relevance of public policies in order to support them—e.g., the case of European food cooperatives [15]
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