Small-p’ Politics: Political Apathy and Civic Life in the Eat-Local Movement

• In Event: 556 - Regular Session. Collective Behavior

Abstract

Evidence of a public sphere limited by apathy and a lack of creativity is a well-documented phenomenon. Yet the praxeological mechanisms through which such characteristics emerge remains under-theorized. We examine civic engagement practices in a comparative ethnographic case study of eat-local movements, identifying ‘small-p politics’ as a dominant practice. We ask the following questions: why do participants’ adopt small-p politics? And what are the limitations of this form of engagement for food system transformation? Small-p politics are pleasurable, non-confrontational and pragmatic approaches to collective action. Paradoxically, the mechanisms that mobilize and sustain engagement in the eat-local movement lead to a thinning of imagined pathways towards political change. We discuss implications for the study of depoliticization and citizen apathy.

Authors

• Emily Huddart Kennedy, Washington State University

• John R Parkins, University of Alberta