Consumption networks in times of social distancing: Towards entrained solidarity

Abstract

How does solidarity gel together disjointed entities in a web of social relations? This study examines how solidarity catalyzes unconnected entities (people, things, and institutions) in a consumption network by analyzing Spesasospesa.org, an Italian consumption network that was developed during lockdowns resulting from Covid-19. We find that solidarity enables the emergence of this network because of three main practices: (1) synchronization, (2) appropriation, and (3) narration. Solidarity has typically been depicted in the consumer culture literature as a given trait of consumer collectives, but our study shows that solidarity in fact plays a key role in gelling social links at the nexus of antistructure and structure. Therefore, our research extends past literature on consumer sociality by unveiling the role that entrained solidarity plays in the emergence of consumption networks in times of social distancing.

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