Solidarity Purchase Groups Research Articles

Food Community Networks as Leverage for Social Embeddedness

Social embeddedness, defined as the interaction of economic activities and social behavior, is used in this study as a conceptual tool to describe the growing phenomenon of food community networks (FCNs). The aim in this paper was to map the system of relations which the FCNs develop both inside and outside the network and, from the number of relations, it was inferred the influence of each FCN upon the formation of new socially embedded economic realities. A particular form of FCN was taken under consideration: solidarity purchase groups (SPGs). Performed with the aid of social network analysis on a sample of SPGs in Sicily (a region in southern Italy), the study allowed us to identify a relational (internal) social embeddedness, in which groups of consumers and farmers are directly influenced by reciprocal interactions, giving rise to more or less numerous links of reciprocity and trust depending on the number of interactions. It was also identified a structural (external) social embeddedness, generated by the nature of relations that the SPGs undertake with the various social actors. From the results of our analysis it emerges that SPGs lie at the intersection of many social realities, influencing them and in turn being influenced by such realities. We highlight the major role played by consumer and environmental associations in affecting the phenomenon of social embeddedness.

Food consumption as social practice: Solidarity Purchasing Groups in Rome, Italy

In Italy the Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (GAS) are groups of households that cooperate in purchasing food and other goods directly from producers on the basis of ethical and environmental criteria and considerations of solidarity. They present themselves as a movement with a shared critique of the dominant model of consumption, a movement whose aim is to build a more sustainable economy by changing the way they buy their food and other goods. These specificities make GAS an ideal case study for analysis of how a new practice of enhanced sustainable food consumption can emerge and develop.In this paper we examine the discourses and practices of GAS operating in Rome (Italy). We look specifically at the social and demographic characteristics of GAS members, the way their belief in sustainability and the motivation to support it can change food buying habits and how personal and collective motivations interconnect with normative, social and material factors in the generation and reproduction of a new practice.Transcending dichotomous perspectives of sustainable consumption as a matter of changing individual behaviour patterns or as something that is constrained by material and normative considerations, we employ concepts derived from theories of practice and sustainable consumption to analyse the social construction of a new food buying routine, allowing the interconnections between agency, cultural and social norms and material/functional structures to emerge in a continuous dialectical process of routinisation and reflexivity.

Political Consumerism and New Forms of Political Participation

Political consumerism has become one of the most promising research fields in social movement and political participation studies. However, most research has focused mainly on the more personalized and less collective version of such forms of action, leaving largely unexplored the nature and dynamic of some new local grassroots organizations (such as the so-called Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, or Solidarity Purchasing Groups [SPGs] in Italy). The influence of such forms of political participation in contemporary democracies has been scarcely investigated. The aim of this article is to provide an in-depth exploratory case study of SPGs in Italy, which more specifically focuses on the main definitional, organizational, and sociodemographic features of SPG participation. The article shows that the Italian SPGs are locally based hybrid pressure movements that go beyond conventional forms of political consumerism by adopting innovative organizational and participatory tools.

Sustainability and New Models of Consumption: The Solidarity Purchasing Groups in Sicily

European society, with its steadily increasing welfare levels, is not only concerned with food (safety, prices), but also with other aspects such as biodiversity loss, landscape degradation, and pollution of water, soil, and atmosphere. To a great extent these concerns can be translated into a larger concept named sustainable development, which can be defined as a normative concept by). Sustainability in the food chain means creating a new sustainable agro-food system while taking the institutional element into account. While different concepts of sustainability abound, in recent years, spontaneous groups of consumers called solidarity purchase groups (SPG) have been developing. In short, they are characterized by an economy that is not necessarily local, but ethical and equitable, where social and economic territorial relations tend to develop districts and networks. One of the main characteristics of a SPG is the direct relationships between small farms and their customers; a relationship that is characterized by consumer participation and farmer specialization. This study aims to address issues related to organizational frameworks, at farm and chain level, and to assess those elements that lead to consumer choice and satisfaction.

On the New Social Relations around and beyond Food. Analysing Consumers' Role and Action in Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (Solidarity Purchasing Groups)

AbstractThis article aims at analysing the features and the dynamics of those alternative agri‐food networks in which consumers act as initiators. Drawing on a survey of ongoing initiatives at national level and on evidence from empirical fieldwork in a specific territorial context showing a variegated and dynamic reality at this regard (Tuscany), the article analyses consumers' evolving attitudes and behaviour, around and even beyond food, unfolding during their involvement in these initiatives. In particular, it focuses on the experience of the solidarity‐based purchasing groups, consumers' organisations promoted by groups of citizens aiming at getting control of the food they consume. Using an actor–network perspective, the article analyses how purchasing and consumption routines change when consumers join these initiatives. The article also discusss the potential of these initiatives as drivers of change along with the following questions: to what extent do these initiatives challenge dominant food practices and system governance? On what basis are these initiatives sustainable and are replicable in different contexts? How can they foster other forms of civic engagement? In this regard, the article tests a transition management approach, considering solidarity‐based purchasing groups as socio‐technical niches within broader socio‐technical regimes in a macro landscape characterised by the globalisation of the food system. In particular, it analyses the critical points where niches enter in conflict with existing socio‐technical regimes, and the way in which these groups act to remove legal, technological and cultural barriers to their development.

The Establishment of an Organic Farmers’ Market as a Training Case Study and Research for Graduate Students of Organic Agriculture at the University of Palermo

Despite the modest regional of organic products, Sicily is one of the most important European regions in surface area per number of companies active in organic farming. The University of Palermo, as early as 2000, to promote the development and success in this industry, the Faculty of Agriculture, introduced two major degree programs in Organic Farming. The objective of these courses is to train graduates who are technically capable of supporting the organic farmers market, to promote and facilitate the expansion of the of organic products, and to create employment opportunities for young graduates. At the end of 2009, in the area of these activities, a training and research program involved numerous students in the creation of an joint consumption association whose purpose is the expansion of the of organic products through the enhancement of a direct relationship with small organic farms who would be unlikely to penetrate large markets, or have relationships with large distribution networks. The project aims to assess the ability of the students of the Faculty to transmit the knowledge acquired in the program, and to investigate the relative issues regarding the new phenomenon emerging in recent years in Italy, represented by the spread of various forms of ethically-conscious groups called Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (GAS) or Solidarity Purchase Groups.

I Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale. Una proposta solida nella societŕ liquida

- In the currently liquid and uncertain world, purchasing represents a dimension where individuals live the illusion of control over their own lives. Solidarity Purchasing Groups (or GAS, an Italian acronym for Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale) aree an attempt to reverse this model, and to build relationships not despite but through the market and purchasing. They choose products and producers on the basis of respect for the environment and solidarity between the members of the groups, traders, and producers. GAS aree rooted in a critical approach to today's global economic model and lifestyle of consumerism; individuals that feel the unfairness in this model and who aree searching for a practical alternative can find reciprocal aid and advice by joining solidarity purchasing groups. They aree a catalyst of political and social change. Empirical research, which completes these reflections, points out two very different ways to live this experience: "health cares" ("salutisti") and "critical protester" ("contestatori critici"). Only the second one is characterized by a strong, albeit scarcely perceptible, political impact.Keywords: Solidarity Purchasing Groups, Purchase, Market, Civicness, Political Participation.

Consumatori consapevoli e sviluppo sostenibile: riflessioni sul cibo

- This paper offers a contribution to the analysis of the processes of transition of the food systems, that are sustained by the innovations introduced by reflexive consumers. After reviewing the literature on consumption as driver of change, the authors propose to explain consumption models and consumers' identities in the Summaries framework of innovation theories. The analysis is applied on consumers solidarity purchasing groups. Their innovative role is expressed by the capacity of coproduce, together with other actors, new structures, material and immaterial, for everyday life. This implies as well a re-definition of boundaries between consumption and production, commodities and services, private and public, domestic and civic. Key words: innovation networks; transition theory; critical consumption; sustainable development; solidarity purchasing groups; citizens-consumers.

Consumo critico e reti alimentari

- This paper explores the development of alternative practices of production and consumption of food in Italy, pointing out the attention on the potentiality of the short food chains aiming to improve the conditions of small producers as well as on the emerging of critical consumption practices that have encouraged the constitutions of the solidarity purchasing groups (GAS). In particular, this paper presents the results of a national survey about the direct selling practices involving small rural producers as well as the GAS. The networks developed by these actors present specific aspects that are not considered by the analytical approaches just focusing on spatiality, but can be interpreted as "networks of resistance". Key words: critical consumption; agro-food networks; biological production; solidarity purchasing groups; short food chains; direct sale.

Drivers' awareness of traffic sign information

Starting from the results of a research project on Solidarity Purchase Groups (Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale - GAS) in Italy, the paper discusses how, within consumer groups, for the very reason of their horizontal organisation which encourages learning amongst peers, the conditions are created to overcome the so-called ‘attitude-behaviour gap’ in ethical consumption. The analysis shows how after joining a solidarity consumer group and experimenting this kind of shared economic practice, people not only change their consumption but they also feel more collaborative and trustful towards others, more interested in politics and have an increased sense of social effectiveness.