Publication details
Post-socialist sharing economy: home grown food and informal distribution networks
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | In the last quarter-century European post-socialist societies have experienced some of the most profound instances of economic neoliberalisation. While the processes of marketisation and privatisation were initially externally driven by international institutions, domestically the market also enjoyed an elavated symbolic status as part of ‘civilising mechanisms‘ destroyed under socialism. With the focus of post-socialist agri-food scholarship on either the macro-processes of neoliberalisation of the agri-food sector or market-based food relocalisation (farmers’markets, local certification), it has been largely overlooked that Central and East European societies harbour localised, informal practices such as household food production and surplus distribution that defy the dominant neo-liberal trends. This paper argues that despite their outward appearance as manifestations of an individualised agency and responsibilisation, these practices constitute an alernative, sharing and caring economy. While not necessarily perceived as sites of resistance to market capitalism, these spaces are viewed by practitioners as constituing valuable domains of culturally motivated human interactions. The paper shows that these spaces nurture – through enjoyment – trust, cooperation, mutual help and efficient use of resources and hence, by extension, greater personal and local resilience. Empirically the paper is based on recent research into extensive networks of informal sharing of surplus food produced by households in Moravia, Czech Republic, and on a case study of a local shop selling home-grown surplus food at non-market prices. The paper raises the question whether there is a possibility for the western ‘core‘ and the increasingly affluent societies of the global South to learn from food transitions in the ‘post-socialist periphery‘. |
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