Resisting the Malls. Communication and Networking Practices of Solidarity Purchasing Groups (GAS) in Italy

In neoliberal governance, the space for addressing most issues, whether private or public, is market driven. Political consumerism movements have for decades promoted a set of values, proposals, and “narratives” that aim to combine concern for the environment and social justice with profound changes in everyday life and lifestyles. In Italy, the purchase of products made by adopting criteria of sustainability and social responsibility or from organic farming, made through the collective organization of GAS, the Solidarity Purchasing Groups, is a distinctive solution among the many ethical consumption practices implemented in different territories or countries. The research’s objective was a) to analyze the external communication tools of GAS; and b) to study, through a network analysis, the structure of the connections and relationships between the websites of the groups and social movement organizations. The websites, profiles on social network sites and visual identity of more than 300 GAS present in the Italian territory were analyzed. Despite the fact that network strategy remains central to the movement’s repertoire of action and is articulated in a plentiful and karstic flow of relationships or, even intense, local activities and community-purchasing initiatives, these still struggle to emerge in digital communication, this potential does not invariably result in the transformation of resistance into communicative communities.