A growing field of research is documenting the political investment of the consumer. Yet, consumers are invested of political responsibilities in many different ways, which respond to different visions of politics and consumption, culture and the economy. In this article we critically explore the particular stance of an increasingly international actor such as Slow Food, placing it in the context of current debates on the scope of alternative food networks and on the moral boundaries of the market. Starting from the Slow Food core in Bra, Italy, and through a variety of qualitative sources, both primary (interviews) and secondary (publications, public speeches), we show that while Slow Food contributes to the current political investment of the consumer, it does so in distinctive ways which bear witness to its gastronomic origin and middle-class constituency. Slow Food rhetoric works out a politically-thick vision of taste refinement: its imagined consumer is an ‘eco-gastronome’, someone who adds ecologic...

Consumption, Pleasure and Politics Slow Food and the politico-aesthetic problematization of food

This article addresses the ideology of Slow Food (SF), an influential movement founded in Italy in 1986. Through an analysis of a wide range of texts, ranging from SF’s opposition to fast food to its ambition to establish a new ‘gastronomic science’ and a new ‘development model’ based on the three criteria of buono (good), pulito (clean) and giusto (tasty), the article concludes that SF is a descendant of the countercultural and anti-consumerist movements of the 1960s and 70s. It also claims that SF’s understanding of the capitalist system is limited, that its idea of a new agriculture and a new economy is simply that of returning to a primitive, pre-industrial economy (without explaining how that economy could feed the present world population), that its ideal of a new world is that of a stratified and immutable society, and that its main goal is to combine the commercial promotion of high-price luxury food products with political engagement.

The ideology of Slow Food

This Paper deals with the current transformations of Solidarity Purchase Groups (SPGs) in Italy. We particularly wonder if and eventually how the economic crisis and austerity policies have affected SPGs. Through an approach based on the literature on political consumerism and social movements, six hypotheses are proposed: ‘less economic resources, less SPGs,’ ‘cultural path dependency,’ ‘increased op-portunities,’ ‘isomorphism,’ ‘civic traditions,’ and ‘resilience.’ Empirical data focus on Italian and Tuscan SPGs, by both articulating different research methods and focalizing on different levels. Although our work has only an explorative aim, our analysis shows that the amount of available economic resources cannot per se lead to a satisfying understanding of the evolution of SPGs. Hypotheses based on culture and politi-cal processes seem to be more promising and can point to the resilience capacity of those groups. Post-materialistic values resulting from economic well-being might have produced organized practices of political consumerism. However, once political consumerism gets structured—this is our tentative argument—not only does it resist to external shocks but also it transforms itself and adapts to the new conditions imposed by crises, that is, it becomes ‘resilient.’ The ‘resilience hypothesis’ applied to SPGs nevertheless has to face some social cleavages.

/pdf/between-resistance-and-resilience-how-do-italian-solidarity-2fredph44t.pdf

Between Resistance and Resilience. How Do Italian Solidarity Purchase Groups Change in Times of Crisis and Austerity

Political consumerism is consumer choice beyond self-interest. Allegedly blurring the public–private threshold and overcoming the limits of traditional politics, it epitomizes in many respects late modern governance. Reflecting on the meaning and scope of consumer political agency, scholarship has engaged with the governmentality perspective. Important studies have ensued, together with irresolvable disputes and a neglect of the relationship that consumers establish with their objects of concern. To address this question, and drawing on the philosophical contributions of Roberto Esposito, the article elaborates on the notion of immunization. Being immune means having nothing in common with others, no obligations towards them. This analytical register may significantly broaden our understanding of current changes in political agency. A review of three main issues (responsibility-taking, downshifting, and the public) shows that the paradox of political consumerism – like other forms of governance that repla...

In search of community: Political consumerism, governmentality and immunization

/pdf/how-not-to-become-a-dominant-french-sociologist-bourdieu-in-57dxd65psc.pdf

How "Not" to Become a Dominant French Sociologist: Bourdieu in Italy, 1966-2009

Il consumo critico

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Consumption, Pleasure and Politics Slow Food and the politico-aesthetic problematization of food

The ideology of Slow Food

Between Resistance and Resilience. How Do Italian Solidarity Purchase Groups Change in Times of Crisis and Austerity

In search of community: Political consumerism, governmentality and immunization

How "Not" to Become a Dominant French Sociologist: Bourdieu in Italy, 1966-2009

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