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Food Community Networks as Leverage for Social Embeddedness

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Abstract

Social embeddedness, defined as the interaction of economic activities and social behavior, is used in this study as a conceptual tool to describe the growing phenomenon of food community networks (FCNs). The aim in this paper was to map the system of relations which the FCNs develop both inside and outside the network and, from the number of relations, it was inferred the influence of each FCN upon the formation of new socially embedded economic realities. A particular form of FCN was taken under consideration: solidarity purchase groups (SPGs). Performed with the aid of social network analysis on a sample of SPGs in Sicily (a region in southern Italy), the study allowed us to identify a relational (internal) social embeddedness, in which groups of consumers and farmers are directly influenced by reciprocal interactions, giving rise to more or less numerous links of reciprocity and trust depending on the number of interactions. It was also identified a structural (external) social embeddedness, generated by the nature of relations that the SPGs undertake with the various social actors. From the results of our analysis it emerges that SPGs lie at the intersection of many social realities, influencing them and in turn being influenced by such realities. We highlight the major role played by consumer and environmental associations in affecting the phenomenon of social embeddedness.

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Notes

  1. The aim of consumer associations is to promote and disseminate critical consumption through active forms of political consumerism (Cembalo et al. 2012, 2013; Migliore et al. 2012).

  2. Ucinet—Version 6.232 (Borgatti et al. 2002).

  3. For details on the index calculation procedure, see Everett and Borgatti (1999).

  4. Where D is the centrality calculated on the degree, d(n i ) is the quantity of relations of the i-th actor, while g is the total number of network nodes. The higher is Freeman’s degree, the greater the degree of centrality.

  5. In this sense the geodesic distance is the shortest (i.e. most efficient) path linking two nodes. It is simply equal to the number of links making up the path. For in-depth treatment, see Carrington et al. (2005).

  6. The formula rjk(ni)/rjk placed in the nominator to calculate betweenness allows us to express the probability that the ith actor is involved in communication between any pair of actors within the network.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 13, 90128, Palermo, Italy

    Giuseppina Migliore & Giorgio Schifani

  2. Italian Institute of Agricultural Economics (INEA), Via Libertà 203, 90143, Palermo, Italy

    Giovanni Dara Guccione

  3. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Economics and Policy Group, University of Naples Federico II, Via Università 96, 80055, Naples, Italy

    Luigi Cembalo

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  1. Giuseppina Migliore
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  2. Giorgio Schifani
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  3. Giovanni Dara Guccione
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  4. Luigi Cembalo
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Correspondence to Luigi Cembalo.

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Migliore, G., Schifani, G., Guccione, G.D. et al. Food Community Networks as Leverage for Social Embeddedness. J Agric Environ Ethics 27, 549–567 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-013-9476-5

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