The Resurgence of the Locavore: The Growth of Local Food Markets in the United States

• In Event: 025 - Regular Session. Economic Sociology. Moral Values and Economic Life

Abstract

Sociological studies of markets have recognized that markets are embedded in various types of economic exchange institutions. Although a growing number of these studies have examined moral markets, important questions persist: What role, if any, does civic engagement play for the emergence of moral markets? How do social movements impact producers and consumers’ decisions to participate in moral markets? We build on sociological theories of markets to address these questions in the context of the rapid growth of markets for local food. Our contribution to theories of market embeddedness and contention is threefold. First, we examine the flip side of the argument that markets foster cooperation because they bind people to one another, by focusing on the role of civic engagement for the emergence and growth of moral markets. Second, we extend sociological arguments about the importance of political processes and interactions between producers, by examining how social movements contribute to alternative forms of production and market development. Third, we examine how social movements contribute to the emergence of consumer ethics aligned with moral markets.

Author

• Ion Bogdan Vasi, University of Iowa