Food sharing practices and sharing economy: How the economic crisis is reshaping Italians’ food consumption habits.

Since 2008, the European and global economic crisis and the digital revolution are the two main agents of change transforming consumer behaviors. The process of digitalization is impacting markets and society at every level, and can be tied to the economic crisis in many sectors – especially concerning the relationship between mass distribution and small retailers. Within this framework, market segmentation reproduces old and new forms of social stratification and inequalities based on income, access to food, and access to information. The aim of this paper is to discuss the final results of a national survey of several universities. The survey analyzes how Italians’ relationship with the food they purchase has changed as a result of both the economic crisis and increased buying opportunities. In this context, the notion of the prosumer and a sharing economy arose as the main interpretative variables of a reality in transition in which Italians adapt their alimentary needs. In doing so, they rediscover forms of the neighborhood partially forgotten and partially digitally assisted. These new consumer behaviors are also representative of a peculiar political choice that has led to a global and local solidarity movement in which people are supporting local producers and local communities instead of mass distribution. Even if the trend in this direction is evident and more ethically driven than economically, the survey emphasized how consumers enlisted in sharing economy circuits are always under the price dictatorship typical of a capitalistic system. The survey methodology used is one of a mixed method approach – both quantitative and qualitative – and also took advantage of some experimental techniques such as visual sociology and SNA.