Feeding the City Symposium - 25th June 2014 Francesca Forno: Solidarity Purchase Groups. How the consumer becomes collective Panel 3 Reconnecting producers and consumers: the experience of solidarity purchase groups Giovanni Orlando (Goldsmith University, London), Francesca Forno (Università di Bergamo), Daniela Passeri (Gasalpa, Siena)

1. Solidarity Purchase Groups. How
the consumer becomes collective
Francesca Forno, Cristina Grasseni,
Silvana Signori
University of Bergamo – CORES LAB
Siena, 25 June 2014
Feeding the City: Production, Representation and
Engagement

2. Shifts in social movements tacticts

3. Political consumerism
Political consumerism refers to the purchase of
goods and services based not only on price and
product quality, but also on the behavior of
producers and production methods (i.e.
environmental sustainability, workers’ rights,
human rights, etc.). This form of citizen
participation stresses the importance of individual
responsibility for the common good by recognizing
a fundamental part of the production process in
the very act of consuming (Micheletti 2009).

4. Why political consumerism?
.
Political consumerism has existed for quite a long
time
The state appears to be in a deep crisis, challenged
externally by global problems and by a sort of
paralysis of its institutions, increasingly incapable
of mediating the conflicting interests of its citizens.
Politics has escaped from the state and has
entered the market.

5. Political consumerism in SCMOs
In Sustainable Community Movement
Organizations (SCMOs) alternative provisioning
moves beyond ‘political consumerism’ as it
brings different collectives together and helps
them develop strategies of territorial and
economic intervention, often counteracting or
substituting inefficient governance in terms of
environmental stewardship and labor
protection.

6. From confrontation (protests) to self-
organized community organizations
• mutualistic experiences of welfare from below,
with the goal of both addressing the immediate
needs of a certain population and politicizing it;
• prefigurative politics, therefore attempting to
experiment in action the fundamental traits of the
future society sought by activists;
• horizontal models of self-management, that
challenge traditional hierarchical structures in
particular with reference to industrial production,
implying a radical critique of the capitalistic system;

7. What are GAS
GAS are solidarity-based systems of provisioning usually
set up by a group of people who cooperate in order to
buy food and other commonly used goods directly from
producers at a price that is fair to both parties.
For GAS groups, the term ‘solidarity’ represents a sort of
a guiding principle in the choice of products and
producers. This means that unlike other collective
purchasing groups, GAS do not simply aim to get the
cheapest price, but, rather, they choose their products
and producers with an explicit goal to build a viable
alternative to the ‘consumer society’, commonly
considered a model of society based on the exploitation
of human and natural resources.

8. In depth explorative analysis on Gas
(Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale)
Italy’s Solidarity Purchase Groups are a particularly
interesting case study to unveil the collective
processes through which groups mobilize, not only
to exercise ethical or critical consumption but to co-
produce common good, intervening in local food
provisioning chains and reintroducing issues of
social and environmental sustainability in regional
economies, sometimes with the explicit ambition to
participate in the governance of the territory.

9. Research Design and Data Collection
Data collection took place via two online questionnaires:
• A survey to be completed by the representatives of each
individual GAS, aimed at gathering information about the
organizational characteristics of these groups, such as their
internal organization, logistics and communication.
• A questionnaire to be completed by individual participants,
of which the main objective was to collect information about
the characteristics and motivations of ‘gasistas’, such as
their socio-economic profile, educational and professional
background, reasons for joining, etc.
In both cases it was a closed-ended structured
questionnaire, consisting of about 50 questions each.
The research was restricted to the Lombardy region only

10. ‘RES, DES, and GAS
Networks in Italy’, Source:
Valori, Year 9, n. 67, March
2009, p. 19.
www.valori.it
Growth trend of
Solidarity Purchase
Groups in Italy,
1994-2013:
From 1 to 1,000 GAS
self-registered on
www.retegas.org

11. Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (GAS) = Solidarity Purchase Groups
Distretti di Economia Solidale (DES) = Districts of Solidarity Economy
429 GAS
mapped in
Lombardy
204 group
coordinators
and 1,658
gasistas
interviewed
(two-tiered
on line
survey)

12. Who are Gasistas?
62% of the survey takers
were women:
- 49,6% aged between 30
and 44
- 42,9% aged between 45
and 60
0 10 20 30 40 50
A couple with children at least one of which…
A couple with children older than 5
A couple without children
Single parent family (with children older than…
Single parent family (with at least one minor…
single (31-64 year old)
single (65 and older)
single (below 30)
24,6
47,2
16,1
2,9
2,1
5,6
0,4
0,9
3,6
37,8
7,9 8,4
37,7
4,32,5
28,3
5,1
10,5
35
8,1
Ph.D. Masters Bachelor's
Degree
Secondary
school
admitting to
a profession
Secondary
School
admitting to
University
Mandatory
schooling
Survey taker Partner
5,8
60,1
5,6
13,1
4,6
3,5
6,8
3,7
46,6
6,9
15,1
2
7,4
7,7
Housewife
Clerk, teacher, office worker
Entrepreneur/manager
Self employed
Unemployed
Factory worker
Retired
Partner Survey taker

13. Way to become a «gasista»
82
80
64 64
56
48
,00
10,00
20,00
30,00
40,00
50,00
60,00
70,00
80,00
90,00
Health Supporting
local producers
Builiding new
social ties
Participation
through a
concrete action
Environmental
concern
Save money

14. Structure and organization of Gas
groups
2,1
74,6
23,3
n.a.
No
Sì
Gas registered as an
association?
0,5 0,5
3,1
68,4
13,5
7,8
4,7
1,6
n.a. Once a week Twice a week Once a month Every 2-3
months
Every 3-6
montu
Once a year Never
Frequency of Gas plenary
meetings

15. Horizontal models of self-
management
• The majority of the GAS groups analyzed opt for an
egalitarian division of the tasks: 72% of the 204 GAS
groups analyzed split up responsibilities for the collection
and distribution of orders among the members, so that
there is a contact person for each product. In only 19.7% of
cases is there a group of people within the GAS who
organize purchases, and only in 4.7% of cases are the
orders managed by an external cooperative.
• Although not all GAS groups have formal rules (i.e., are
registered associations), choices regarding purchases,
producers and, more generally, the principles that animate
the GAS are discussed collegially during plenary meetings.

17. Beyond shopping
57
49,7
39,4
38,9
36,8
35,8
32,6
29,5
25,9
25,4
17,6
16,6
13
3,1
4,1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Presentation of Producers
Sustainable Agriculture
Commons
Local issues
Nutritional Education
Alternative Energy
Referendum
Fair Trade
Homenade Produce
Ethical Finance
Anti-Mafia
Degrowth
Labelling Schemas
Car Pooling
Other

19. The trasformative role of Gas
1,8
7,3
3,8
21,8
29,6
28,6
7,1
0,9
6,1
5,4
5,6
20,1
50,1
11,7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
n.a.
Lower the cost of quality products
Facilitate networking to influence public
policies
Provide opportunties to build social ties
Support local producers
Encourage environmentally responsible
lifestyles
Protect personal and family health
Objectives Results
Main objectives and results of GAS groups (%)

20. Increased Decreased Introduced No change n.a. Total
Vegetable 50.4 0.4 0.7 47.4 1.2 100
Organic 79.4 0.2 7.7 11.6 1.1 100
Wholemeal 52.9 0.6 10 35.2 1.4 100
Legumes 38.5 0.5 3.7 56.3 1.1 100
Local 80.6 0.2 5.4 12.6 1.1 100
Seasonal 68.1 0.1 2.8 27.8 1.2 100
Cereals 45.1 0.3 12.8 40.5 1.3 100
Meat 3.1 42.5 0.2 52 2.2 100
Fair Trade 39.6 1.4 5.6 51.8 1.5 100
Mafia- Free 44.6 0.6 14.7 38.5 1.5 100
Ecological 41.4 0.6 25 31.9 1.1 100
Changes in consumption habits
Yes No Already did n.a. Total
Decreased purchasing pre-cooked food 24.8 5.1 69.4 0.7 100
Decreased shopping in supermarket 41.4 47.9 9.7 0.9 100
Increased purchases in local shops 27.5 33 37.9 1.6 100
Started producing food at home 38.3 31.9 29 0.9 100
Started growing vegetables 16.2 54.8 27.6 1.4 100
Started to use the car less 17.6 46.9 34.5 1 100
Increased recycling 32.5 6.7 60 0.9 100
More attention to energy consumption 29.3 22.9 46.3 1.4 100
More attention to water consumption 28.6 6.1 64.3 1 100
Changes in
lifestyles

21. Yes No Already
was
n.a. Total
More interested in
problems concerning my
town of residence
26 30.3 42.5 1.2 100
More interested in
politics in general
7.9 35.8 55 1.3 100
More able to cooperate
with people in general
39.7 16.1 42.9 1.4 100
Feeling more able to
influence public policy
23.9 60.8 13.8 1.6 100
Changes in styles of participation

22. Some conclusions
In our individualized and fragmented societies, these groups represent an
important way to bond people together. As seen, starting from the basic act
of shopping, GAS help citizens to start asking questions not only about
quality, sustainability and the costs of goods, but also about municipal
services, schools and education, pollution and so forth.
GAS groups are helping collectives to develop strategies of territorial and
economic intervention, which often substitute inefficient governance in
terms of environmental stewardship and labor protection.
These groups represent important sources of social innovation capable of
suggesting well-founded solutions to sustainability problems.
Thus GAS are not simply a “new type of consumer organization”, but rather a
new form of political participation in an overall context of high levels of
distrust of traditional channels of participation, such as that in political
parties. As seen, through these groups, people have the opportunity to not
only satisfy a series of consumer-related needs in an ethical way, but also to
join together to try to make a difference to environmental and social justice
issues.

23. Contacts
• Francesca Forno francesca.forno@unibg.it
• CORES LAB www.unibg.it/cores