Ethically-oriented economies and democracy: the political role of critical consumption. The experience of solidary purchasing groups in Italy

• Author: Francesco Orazi
• Position: Researcher of Economic Sociology at the Economic Faculty G. Fuà, Polytechnic University of Marche (Ancona, Italy)
• Pages: 35-44

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 8 (57) No. 1 - 2015

ETHICALLY-ORIENTED ECONOMIES

AND DEMOCRACY: THE POLITICAL

ROLE OF CRITICAL CONSUMPTION. THE

EXPERIENCE OF SOLIDARY

PURCHASING GROUPS IN ITALY

Francesco ORAZI1

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to situate solidary economies and

critical consumption within an explanatory context in which economic and

institutional processes are configured as symbolic fabrics. In this way

consumption can be interpreted as a political activity that triggers

transformation starting from its own changes. The paper draws its research

information on Solidary Purchasing Groups (GAS) and solidary economies

from a survey conducted in the Marche region (Italy) between 2010 and 2011

on a sample of 182 families belonging to 20 GAS.

Key words: solidary economies, critical consumption, solidary purchasing

groups, economic democracy, cultural production.

1 Researcher of Economic Sociology at the Economic Faculty G. Fuà, Polytechnic University of Marche

(Ancona, Italy).

1. Introduction: consumption and

democracy

The objective of this paper is to situate

solidary economies and critical

consumption within an explanatory context

in which economic and institutional

processes are configured as symbolic

fabrics. In this way consumption can be

interpreted as a political activity that

triggers transformation starting from its

own changes. It is the effect of reflexive

modernization, whose phenomena of

change are generated by the same

(uncontrollable) secondary effects

produced by industrial society [3]. All

these activate self-transformations through

recursive interaction between continuity

and rupture of the cultural flow that shapes

the social structure. This dynamic renders

symbolic fabrics (cultural production)

fragmentary and politicizes society in the

interstices of daily activities. Further, it

characterizes consumption as a public

medium that releases and institutionalizes

meanings with which social actors develop

an ongoing negotiation. This process

affects the definition of public identities

that structure and legitimize the market

"shape" [12].

In this sense, consumption is the result of

individual choices not so much between

products but between different kinds of

relationship. A basic choice in the

formation of a "modern” individual

concerns the lifestyle to be adopted, and