22 Apr 2014
At this year’s Political Studies Association International Conference in Manchester, Andrea Felicetti of the University of Canberra presented a paper called Radicals without rebellion? A Case Study on four Transition experiments. In it he explored “whether and how social movements can promote radical positions whilst refraining from adopting an oppositional approach”. This was one of the first pieces of research I have come across that explored Transition’s approach to politics, so we contacted Andrea and asked him to write an article for us, presenting his key findings in as accessible a way as possible. We are delighted that he agreed to do so.
“After having met so many wonderful people engaged in Transition it is a real pleasure for me to have the opportunity to share here some of my work. My study focused on four Transitions, two in Italian towns in Emilia Romagna and Sicily and two from Australia in a suburb of Brisbane and in Tasmania. I did not have the goal to assess how good these groups are at doing Transition. Rather, I tried to understand them from a very specific perspective: a democratic point of view.
Being interested in deliberative democracy I see democracy not just in terms of, say, electoral competition or representation of interests but particularly in the quality of communication occurring within and among groups in societies. So, I tried to understand the internal qualities of these groups and their way of relating to the local politics.
There are many reasons for researching a movement like the Transition from a deliberative democratic perspective. To begin with Transition is an important phenomenon of itself. Also, understanding contemporary forms of citizens’ engagement is of sure interest to many contemporary scholars of democracy. For instance, in making communities more resilient and localised there is ground to make them more democratic too. The non-adversarial approach of Transition is especially fascinating to deliberative democrats who for long time have been showing some important limitations with traditional adversarial politics.
The Transition is also especially interesting because although it has a do-it-yourself approach it also stresses the importance of quality communication among participants with local actors. Finally, many of the themes that are central to the Transition (for instance, climate change) are also fundamental for many deliberative scholars around the world.
I spent almost two months in each local community, participated in group activities and meetings, and interviewed Transition participants and other community actors. There is a great variation in terms of groups’ characteristics from a deliberative democratic standpoint. Whilst in some groups discussions had a lesser role, some case studies developed discursive processes that showed desirable characteristics from a deliberative standpoint and had a fundamental role in coordinating the various activities.
The internal features of a group and the relationship that it establishes with the surrounding context both seem very important to determine its deliberative and democratic qualities. When there is a firm commitment to democratic norms and when it is perceived that communication at group level is important to affect the community, groups are capable of developing high quality interactions. My findings, along with similar ones on other contemporary movements, challenge the view that the public is incapable of quality democratic engagement.
The good news in terms of the impact you are having is that Transition initiatives can actually promote democratic forms of engagement at the local scale. On the other hand though, there is no ground to claim that this is always the case. Groups establish original relationships with their surrounding environment and forms of engagement that is neither particularly deliberative nor democratic may prevail. This seems more likely to happen where the focus on ‘getting things done’ clearly prevails over other concerns (whilst more active groups are not necessarily those with a more pragmatic approach).
With regard to this latter aspect for instance it is worth noticing that often deliberative and democratic characteristics are not required in collaborating with local institutions. Actually, managing the relationship with local institutions puts under particular stress a group’s capability to develop democratic engagement. In line with other studies my work suggests that an environment where institutions are particularly responsive to citizens’ activism is not necessarily beneficial to the development of democratic interactions within groups and with the broader community.
My findings of course cannot speak for the Transition initiatives all over the world or the Network. However, even just in my study it seems that Transition means quite different things to different people. In the face of specific challenges participants have to make decisions on how to interpret Transition’s ideas. These choices not just affected the democratic qualities of groups but also their overall activity. Interestingly, those groups that tend to adhere closely the Transition guidelines have a good platform to build good quality and democratic interactions.
Although I have no recipe to develop deliberative democratic engagement in groups I think a few essential ingredients may include the following:
- Don’t take the democratic nature of a group for granted. It is usually possible to interact democratically in groups but it does require effort.
- Good quality discussions won’t happen naturally and having some form of moderation may have incredibly good effects.
- Create moments for the group to decide how much it cares about good quality communication and how it intends to achieve it. Good quality communication is not necessarily about talking a lot but as much as making sure that there is always an open channel for effective discussion.
- Being open won’t make you inclusive. Openness to different people and views won’t necessarily attract those people and views… an effort is needed in order to reach out to locals and take good care of them when they do show up. NB: having good quality communication implies that you are better able to ‘exploit’ the different contributions that people may give.
- Help from institutions may greatly enhance your Transition but very different views and goals exist quite naturally among various actors. If you decide to partner with institutions (or any organisation really) make sure participants are happy with it (and with the ways collaboration is carried out along the way).
Quite normally some people tend take responsibility for different tasks. Some may talk to politicians, some may run activities, and some may contact other organisations… Make sure that someone takes care of nourishing engagement among actual people within the group and in the rest of the community.
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22 Apr 2014
Aveiro em Transição is a Transition initiative in Portugal. When they heard we were looking for tales of the impact Transition initiatives see their work having, they sat a group of people down who are active in the initiative and asked them the question. Here’s what they had to say.
Jenny Tavares:
O que é a Transição? O que é estar em Transição? Perguntei-me há um ano atrás e, dia após dia fui encontrando as respostas entre desconhecidos que tornaram-se amigos, entre reuniões, oficinas e tertúlias. Começo a fazer coisas nas quais não tinha pensado antes: a plantar uma horta, a tricotar acompanhada de pessoas da cidade que nem sabia que existiam, a fazer pão em casa ou a colher plantas selvagens para fazer uma salada. Dou por mim a ouvir com atenção, a partilhar, a agradecer e a relembrar o quanto é importante “sonhar, fazer e celebrar”.
Dou por mim a ser feliz, pé ante pé… em transição.
What is Transition? What is being in Transition? I asked myself a year ago, and every day I found answers among strangers who have become friends, between meetings, workshops and gatherings. I started doing things they had not thought of before: to plant a vegetable garden, knitting accompanied by townspeople who did not know existed, to make bread at home or harvesting wild plants to make a salad. I find myself listening, sharing, thanking and remembering how important it is “to dream, do and celebrate.”
I find myself to be happy, step by step … in Transition.
Ana Jervis Cunha:
Já não sei o que é viver sem Aveiro em Transição, e começámos há menos de 1 ano! Era algo que sentíamos que tinhamos de fazer e, no momento certo apareceram de vários lados as pessoas/projectos/associações certas! Vemos crescer o número de participantes nos eventos e no grupo central, recebemos propostas, louvores e testemunhos de desconhecidos, que passam a amigos e parceiros, de como foi importante algum dos nossos eventos para melhorar a sua vida ou como querem colaborar na oficina de freeskilling. E isto melhora a nossa auto-confiança, auto-conhecimento e senso de comunidade, há um empoderamento (empowerment) mútuo!
Aprender a fazer iogurte em casa com um amigo de Paredes em Transição mudou a minha vida…e é tão fácil! Diminuí a dependência do supermercado em vários produtos alimentares e cosméticos. A criação do grupo Educação Livre Aveiro nas Mães de Transição Aveiro tem promovido uma rede de debate e apoio entre pais, filhos e educadores que aguardavam este momento com esperança numa educação alternativa mais ecocêntrica para as crianças. Profissionalmente recebo na quinta pedagógica onde colaboro, voluntários e formadores através de Aveiro em Transição, com quem temos uma parceria, e que nos estão a dar uma grande ajuda a construir um projecto de Educação Ambiental e Sustentabilidade único em Aveiro, onde as pessoas podem cultivar as suas hortas, aprender sobre os polinizadores no apiário e sobre a fauna e flora na floresta e charcos.
I just don’t know what is to live my life without Aveiro in Transition, and we’ve just started less than 1 year ago! This was something we felt we had to do, and at the right time the right people/organizations/projects came up! The number of people in the core group and attending the events is rising, and we receive proposals, appreciation emails and messages from people saying how important one of our events was in order to improve their family life and others willing to share their knowledge in a freeskilling workshop. And this has strengthened our self-confidence and sense of community, there is a mutual empowerment! Learning how to make homemade yoghurt with a friend from Paredes in Transition changed my life… and it’s so easy to do!
I’ve become more independent from supermarket groceries. The Alternative Education Aveiro group, born from Mothers in Transition Aveiro, has promoted a network of parents, educators and children to discuss and create a non-traditional education. In the pedagogical farm where I work, I receive volunteers and educators from Aveiro in Transition, as part of a partnership, and they (we) are giving a lot of help building a sustainable environmental education project, unique in Aveiro, where people can grow their vegetables, learn about honeybees and pollinators and local fauna and flora.
Ana Sofia Pereira:
A iniciativa de Transição ajudou-me, acima de tudo, a saber trabalhar em prol de causas e preocupações que já tinha de forma mais organizada e motivada. É incrível a força que a união de pessoas interessadas faz. Por causa da Aveiro em Transição, ganhei força para dinamizar o Mães de Transição Aveiro, um grupo informal de entreajuda para mães e famílias na zona de Aveiro. E a partir disso, surgiu a Educação Livre Aveiro, um grupo de famílias e interessados dispostos a criar um projecto educativo alternativo que abarque a problemática da transição desde muito cedo e na escola. A Aveiro em Transição abre caminho para muitas sinergias maravilhosas entre famílias e movimentos. Pode-se dizer que somos uma grande família, todos a crescer e a caminhar no mesmo sentido e todos a ajudar-nos mutuamente, tal como fazem as famílias.
The Transition initiative helped me, above all, to know how to work in favour of causes and concerns I already had in a more organized and motivated way. It’s incredible the strength of a union of moblized people. Because of Aveiro in Transition, I found the motivation to create Mothers In Transition Aveiro, a mutual help informal group for Aveiro mothers and families. And through that came Free Education Aveiro, a group of families and people interested willing to create an alternative educational project which includes transition issues from early on. Aveiro in Transition makes way to a lot of wonderful synergies between families and movements. You can say we are a big family, all growing and going in the same direction and all helping each other, just like families do.
Jason Baker:
Through our initiative ELA (Education Livre Aveiro) we have been able to get our homeschooling project started. It really makes a big difference working as a group/ community. Also the free seminars about making bread, eating wild plants etc. have been very useful and inspiring. My sense of community has change so much since I have been participating in Aveiro in Transição. What a wonderful idea for wonderful people (us). Hugs Jason
Andreia Ruela:
Gratidão
Com a formação Iniciativas de Transição, passei a reflectir e a agradecer regularmente todos os contributos (de pessoas, da natureza, da tecnologia) para que cada dia seja único e especial. Com este exercício diário, passei a ter mais consciência da interligação das nossas acções e a valorizar mais a simplicidade e os aspectos positivos de cada dia.
Partilha de Saberes
Com as oficinas de partilha de saberes promovidas pelo grupo de Aveiro em Transição tenho adquirido novos conhecimentos e competências muito úteis para o meu quotidiano e da minha família. A oficina que nos ensinou a fazer pão revolucionou a minha vida. Desde a participação nesta oficina, passámos a fazer pão em casa, a alimentar a nossa criatividade e a deliciar-nos com o produto final sempre único. Desenvolvemos o gosto de saborear aquilo que criamos e confeccionamos em conjunto.
Since the Transition Initiatives Training, I reflect and thank all contributors (people, nature and technology) to make my days unique and special. With this daily exercise, I’ve become more aware of the interconnectedness of our actions and focus more on the simplicity and the positive aspects of every day.
I have acquired new knowledge and skills useful for my daily life and my family with freeskilling workshops promoted by Aveiro in Transition. The workshop where we learnt to make bread just revolutionized our life! We started to bake bread at home and feed our creativity. We’ve developed a taste to savor what we create and make together.
Sacha Vieira:
Impactos da transição em Aveiro:
As oficinas de partilha de saberes estão a capacitar os cidadãos aveirenses nas mais variadas dimensões (e.g. fazer pão, croché, ervas aromáticas, ervas comestíveis e hortas verticais). Constatamos que participam pessoas que desconhecem conceitos como cidades em transição e permacultura e é cativante ver a sua curiosidade e sede de saber mais. O grupo participante está a crescer a olhos vistos e as cadeiras começam a ser poucas.
Impactos da transição na minha vida:
A minha presença no grupo leva-me a confirmar a ideia de que existe uma solução para tudo e que é na partilha que está o ganho. Juntos, podemos fazer da vida e do mundo o que quisermos. Somos cada vez mais a querer uma comunidade saudável e feliz e é muito reconfortante este sentimento coletivo de identidade e de contribuição presente para o futuro.
Impacts of Aveiro in Transition in the community:
The freeskilling workshops are capacitating the citizens in Aveiro in varied ways (e.g.: homemade bread, aromatic herbs, vertical gardens, fixing bicycles). We realize that cities in Transition and permaculture concepts are not familiar for the community and it is pleasant to notice the curiosity and the willing to know more. The group is growing step-by-step and the venues start to be “not big enough”.
Impacts of Aveiro in Transition in my life:
My integration in the Transition group in Aveiro gave me the feeling that there is a solution for everything. Sharing is all and the group/team atmosphere nurtures the certainity that together we can build the community we want to live in. We are more and more with the wish to build a happier and healthier world and there is a warmth feeling of contributing today for the present and also future.
Maria José Valinhas:
I have been in transition for a while but the feeling of being part of a community feels great and reassures me that this is the way. Being part a community has opened “doors” in my life and others trough the sharing of knowledge, skills and help. It makes sense an Aveiro em Transição!
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14 Apr 2014
One of the most fascinating recent studies into the impact of Transition was Local Communities Leading the Way to a Low Carbon Society, a report published by AEIDL (Association Européenne pour l’Information sur le Développement Local. It looks at Transition, permaculture and ecovillage networks, what it calls the “Silent Revolution”, “a potentially powerful driver of pro-environmental behaviour change”. We caught up with Eamon O’Hara, who created the report, to find out more about it, and about his conclusions.
How did you create this report, and what research did you do for it?
I have been working at European level on programmes and initiatives dealing with local development for almost 20 years now and around 2008/2009. I started to become more aware of Transition and other similar movements that were developing around Europe. It struck me at the time that not much was known about these grassroots movements at European level, at least in Brussels, where I was based at the time.
There was some really great work being done, some great examples of local projects and communities that were transforming themselves, but it was off the radar for many people. Of course there was nothing abnormal about this. These were grassroots movements, developing organically at their own pace and normally this would be fine. But climate change and the drive for sustainability are issues that need urgent responses, so it seemed to me to be important to try to promote awareness and a wider replication of these initiatives in communities across Europe.
From other programmes I worked on I knew there was considerable experience, and tools and methodologies, that could be drawn on to facilitate the exchange of good practice and ideas, but a necessary first step would be to build awareness around this movement and its potential. Over the next couple of years I began to make contacts within Transition, the Global Ecovillage Network and within other community-based initiatives focusing on climate change and sustainability. Then, in 2012, I received support from AEIDL, a Brussels-based association that I have worked closely with for many years, to carry out a preliminary study.
This study was a combination of desk research and interviews with key people in the countries targeted. I focused mainly on 13 countries where I knew there were community-led initiatives focusing on climate change and sustainability. The study was essentially a mapping exercise, focusing on, firstly, identifying initiatives where they existed, and then trying to better understand the scope and scale of their activities. I had a limited budget, so this study was by no means exhaustive but I think it was an important first step in terms of developing an understanding and awareness of this fledgling movement.
How has it been received since you published it?
It has been really well received. A lot of people have expressed surprise that they hadn’t heard about the initiatives featured before, especially given the scale of activities that now exist across Europe. It has certainly got the attention of policy makers in Brussels and I think this is something we need to build on.
Another important outcome of the study, however, is that it allowed me to build up a strong network of contacts across the countries studied. These contacts represent a wide range of initiatives and I sensed there was a strong interest and desire among them to work more closely together. In some cases there had already been informal interaction, but there was a clear interest in taking this to another level. So, in follow-up to the study I set about coordinating a discussion between these contacts and from this discussion the idea of establishing a formal network emerged. This has since progressed to the establishment of ECOLISE, the European network for community-led action on climate change and sustainability.
I think this is a hugely important development. ECOLISE now brings together all the key stakeholders involved in community-led action on climate change and sustainability in Europe and I think it is well placed to build on the awareness the study has created and really set about the task of championing the cause of community-led action on climate change and sustainability in Europe.
What is your sense of the impact that Transition has had since it began?
Transition has been pivotal. It has opened the door for ordinary people to get involved in reshaping their communities and in so doing reshaping society. That opportunity always existed for people, but Transition has provided the “how-to” guide, and by leading through example, has inspired people and given them the confidence to take action.
However, I think Transition’s best days are still ahead of it. The challenge now, however, is to take Transition from being an initiative that is still largely limited to pioneering communities to a concept that is mainstreamed in the thinking and actions of every community. Of course Transition is not alone here. There are also other initiatives, such as the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), Low Carbon Communities and others, and there is also considerable knowledge and experience available in movements such as Permaculture, but the essential principles are largely the same and I think this knowledge and experience now needs to be disseminated on a much larger scale.
You write that lobbying and advocacy “remains a relatively minor part of their activities and the focus is more on local rather than higher level decision making”. Do you see this as a weakness or a strength of the Transition movement?
For me this is a weakness, but not just of Transition, of community-based initiatives in general. It is completely understandable, as I mentioned above, as Transition is a grassroots movement and there are obviously limited resources and capacity, but I think this is an important activity. To achieve the kind of scaling up I mention above, I think the Transition approach must essentially become part of mainstream policy and thinking and for this lobbying and advocacy are essential.
But I think this can best be achieved by initiatives like Transition and GEN and others working together, and this is why I think ECOLISE has such an important role to play in facilitating this scaling up.
You mention what you see as the “important catalytic effect” Transition can have, and how it has the “potential to change social norms”. Could you tell us more about what you meant by that? By what mechanisms do you observe that it does that?
Again, this applies to community-based action on climate change and sustainability in general, not just Transition. The catalytic effect is essentially about one community being an inspiration for others. Communities that have been successful in developing community energy projects or in reducing their carbon footprint are an important source of ideas and information for others. These communities demonstrate what can be achieved and in this way give confidence to other communities to follow suit.
Various studies have also shown that community-based initiatives tend to have a longer term impact, which goes beyond the immediate effects on carbon emissions or other indicators. These initiatives are generally more holistic in nature, covering a wide range of issues, such as food, transport, energy, etc.. so they can impact on more than one aspect of people’s lives. But the group dynamic aspect of community-led initiatives is also important. Norms are established by groups, not individuals, so this potential for growth and learning within a group environment is an essential precursor for wider behavioural change.
Having created this report, what do you see as the keys to Transition being able to go more mainstream? What, for you, might its next steps look like, and what support would most skilfully enable that?
I think the most important thing now is for Transition to work with the other partners in ECOLISE to create the conditions that will allow for the mainstreaming of community-based action on climate change and sustainability. This is a formidable task and one which can best be achieved by working together. It requires a coherent dialogue with policy makers on why and how community-led action on climate change and sustainability should and could be mainstreamed and what supports are required. It also requires a concerted effort to promote awareness of the potential of community-led action and to make available to communities across Europe the information, tools, guidance, training and advice they need to make this happen.
It is important to be aware however that not every community will necessarily want to become a Transition town or district, but I don’t think this should be an issue. The key thing is to mainstream the approach, to make available the learning and knowledge and to allow flexibility for communities to use this and adapt it to their own circumstances.
How impressed were you by the evolving evidence base for Transition? Do you think researchers are asking the right questions, and is there a good body of evidence already would you say?
Some really good work is being done in this area but I think more is required, not just for Transition but for community-led initiatives in general. To get policy makers on board and achieve the mainstreaming that is needed we need a more convincing argument as to the benefits. There is strong anecdotal evidence and some interesting studies have been carried out but we need to build on this and provide strong empirical evidence that supports the argument for mainstreaming.
We also need to better understand the potential for replicating community-led approaches in different contexts across Europe. Local conditions on the ground vary considerably from one country, or one region, to another so we need to better understand how existing approaches can be adapted to different contexts.
As an extension of this, we need to know what works and what doesn’t in different contexts. We need to be able to provide advice and guidance that is context specific. All of this requires a coordinated transnational approach to research and knowledge development, which is developing but still in the early stages.
You concluded that: “Community-based approaches should not be seen in isolation. Their role must be seen in the context of wider action and an appropriate support framework must be established in order to assist the further develop and replication of these approaches, without losing their essential local, bottom-up ethos”. What is the role that Transition groups play do you think that none of the other scales can do?
Transition groups and other local community-led initiatives play a key role in engaging with and mobilizing local communities. By engaging local people they can unleash a resource that other levels can rarely unleash and facilitate the development of ideas and projects that are tailored to local needs and conditions. Policies and programmes developed and implemented at higher levels rarely if ever achieve this.
However, if higher levels of governance and decision making recognize this important contribution of community-led initiatives then policies and programmes can be designed in a way that makes space for and facilitates this local, bottom-up approach.
There is already a precedent in terms of EU rural development policy, part of which is implemented through a bottom-up, community-led approach. The European Commission has also proposed that this approach (community-led local development, or CLLD) be extended to other policy areas in the 2014-2020 programming period. This opens up a real opportunity to establish community-led approaches as an integral part of the EU’s response to climate change and sustainability.
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14 Apr 2014
Hosszúhetény is the most populous village in Baranya county, in the south of Hungary, with 3400 inhabitants. It’s situated in beautiful natural surroundings at the foot of the Zengő peak of the Mecsek hills. People who live here are traditionally very proud of their natural environment, one famous example of which was in 2004, when fierce resistance from locals and green groups made the Hungarian government abandon a plan to build a NATO radar on the peak. While this event made Hosszúhetény somewhat famous, sustainability did not become a priority in everyday life of the inhabitants afterwards.
Things began to pick up in 2007, when the local government became a founding member of the Hungarian Climate-friendly Association. Around this time a civilian climate-friendly club also started in the village, which after a few years led to various initiatives to promote local and sustainable consumption and living. A group of around 20 people worked on various projects. A local marketplace was created with weekly market days from local producers and in 2012 a Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) started. We have annual seed swap events and we have organized various informative programs such as movie screenings and talks about sustainability and climate awareness, gardening workshops and lectures, health days, among others.
In December 2012 we held a screening of In Transition 2.0 (see photo below). The realization that there was a whole movement out there with the same objectives and ideas that we had was a heart-warming and encouraging experience. By this time we also knew that the real challenge is to keep the great ideas and projects running (the local market and the LETS had both become non-functional), and we wanted to learn how to achieve this.
Eventually, a group of dedicated people participated in a Transition training weekend in October 2013. This training has given us valuable insights into the structures and dynamics of our local community and it has started us on a new way to Transition. We are now in the process of learning how to get the most out of ourselves and our ideas. We are improving communication with the local government, finding ways to reach more people, helping to make the local events sustainable, raising awareness on food self-sufficiency.
We have also entered a 2-year project organized by Transition Wekerle, through which we will learn from and teach other transition communities, as well as build our local and national transition network. We believe the next years help us to strengthen our local community, learn new skills and set up new initiatives which help to make our village more resilient.
By Zsanett Roozental-Pandur and Zoltán Hajdú
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10 Apr 2014
It’s time for a rant about SACAT. “About what?” you might most reasonably cry. ‘Semi Attended Customer Activated Terminals’, that’s what. In plain English, it’s those self checkout things that are taking over shops up and down the land. In 2008 there were 92,600 such units in use worldwide, by the end of this year it is expected to top 430,000. In the UK, 32 million shoppers now use them every week, over one third of Tesco’s store transactions every week are self checkout. I recently went to WHSmith at St Panchras station in London, the first shop I’ve been into that is 100% self checkout. No staff. I turned around and walked back out again.
It’s bad enough on the occasions when I visit my local Co-operative store, who have now just two tills with actual human beings. The rest is all self-checkout. According to Geoffrey Barraclough of BT Expedite, who installed the system in the WHSmith store at Kings Cross, such systems are great because because they:
Enabl(e) shoppers to pay for goods quickly by making more till points available is a proven means for retailers to help boost footfall, service and sales levels”.
That may be the case, but surely the main reason is that they need to employ less staff and thereby make more profit? Whenever I go into a shop which has self-checkout, I refuse to use it. I make a point of telling whoever is at the till that I am refusing to use it because I don’t want even more staff to lose their jobs. It’s a solidarity thing. But when I go to a shop that doesn’t even give you the choice, sorry, they just lost a customer.
A few years ago I did a series of oral history interviews with people, asking for their memories of Totnes in the 1940s and 50s. One woman told me of her experience of doing the week’s shopping:
I used to go to the grocer’s and I could sit down, lovely. They’d go through your list and say yes, yes, we’ve got some new whatever it is, would you like to taste some, you’d have a little snippet of cheese or something, great, yes, we’ll have that. Now we’ve got a tin of broken biscuits, but they’re not too bad, half price you see, would you like them? As soon as you put a biscuit in your mouth its broken isn’t it?! Then they’d say “now Mrs Langford you’re going to the butchers yes yes and going to get some fish? Yes yes, and paraffin? Yes yes, and they used to say to me now bring any parcels in, we’ll put it in the box with your groceries, and bring the lot up for you. And they did you see.
When I go shopping, I want to interact with people. Even the act of popping in to buy a newspaper involves a few words, a “how you doing?” or even just a “thanks”. It’s interaction, it’s communication, it’s the glue that sticks us together. A study in the US looking at why people use farmers markets found that ‘social interaction’ was one of the key reasons, people who shopped there having 10 times more conversations than people shopping in supermarkets. It quoted one shopper as saying:
“You end up talking a lot more to other people than you do in a grocery store. I mean, typically you go to the grocery store and you don’t talk to anyone. Even the checkout people, I mean now you don’t even need to see the checkout person, you can just go through the automated line”.
And if I’m checking myself out, I am doing the shop’s business for them. Not content with assaulting high streets with out-of-town shops, and then moving onto those self same declining high streets to add “vibrancy” to them, they have now, with most of the opposition neutralised (97% of all UK groceries are now sold through just 8,000 supermarket outlets), they are getting us to do the checking out for them! What next? Stacking the shelves? Sweeping the floor on our way out? Perhaps giving the bathrooms a lick of paint?
We wouldn’t expect to do those things unpaid, so why doing the check out? It’s not as though they offer you a choice whereby if you check yourself out they give you a few percent off your bill.
Of course, many people might say “actually Hopkins I rather like going shopping and not having to talk to anyone”, but for me that’s tragic. Think forward. Imagine if we get to the stage where every business, in order to remain competitive with the staff-less chain stores, installs self checkouts? Imagine the day when you can do all your week’s shopping without ever speaking to anyone. Something is lost, something as fundamental to our wellbeing as being able to hear the birdsong on a Spring morning. As hearing the sound of children playing. Civility, community, humanity, all start to unravel.
So I say “no more!” Shun the soul-less cash extracting electronic leeches! Refuse to spend any money unless a human being is involved! Turn around, walk out and walk on. The kind of world we want our children to inherit is being shaped by the choices and the decisions we make today every time we go shopping. Choose community and people and conversation over blatant money-grabbing and unemployment generation.
Or even better, you might use them for a month or so, keep a note of how much time you spend operating their checkout system, and send them a bill for your time, charging them the Living Wage for your time (which is, by the way, £8.80 in London and £7.65 an hour elsewhere). Let’s see how they like that.
I’ll leave the final word to the great Jonathan Richman who, in four minutes and forty five seconds puts it far better than I can:
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