A construção social dos circuitos curtos de comercialização e consumo de alimentos: a emergência de novas institucionalidades

Abstract

An increasing number of actions aimed at recovering the countryside as an active and transforming force in the agri-food field, which is known as quality turn within the international fields of study, has gained strength in recent years. In the center of the debate is the need to rethink the patterns of production, consumption and distribution of food of the modern agri-food system, recognized by the weaknesses revealed not only by food scandals, but also by social, economic, environmental, regulation and control problems. Studies emphasize the notion of an alternative food system, centralizing the characteristics of agriculture that the modern system nullifies such as the visibility of food, reconnection with the consumers and relocation. The objective of this study was to analyze and interpret the process of social construction of short circuit commerce in the city of Santiago (RS), using as reference the social practices and regulatory and cultural-cognitive frameworks previously established. This research is a case study of the commerce of fruit and vegetables. It was carried out using qualitative approach, and it was analyzed from the theoretical concepts of sociological institutionalism. Firstly, the study had an exploratory phase in order to understand the structure of the organizational field, meaningful events and organizational components. Secondly, there was an interpretative approach that aimed at understanding the process of social construction of markets by different institutional elements that provide guidance to the organizational field. It was observed that the structure of the field occurred through five simultaneous and interrelated processes: 1) cultural aspects increased interaction among agents. 2) There was a broad involvement of agents of different organizations. 3) The circuits were formed through adjustments between evaluative and cultural-cognitive institutions, which have become competitive advantages in the modern agri-food system. 4) Although the technical knowledge was scarce, it was not limiting for productive activities; and 5) the circuits had little interaction among them. The new institutionality is the historical, cultural, organizational and local policies, and it is the change that arise from professional discourse in the areas of health and nutrition informed by the press. There is an institutional change supported by five institutional factors of coordination of alternative food system: quality, reconnection with the past, territorial development, social relations and monetary value. In addition, the change is strengthened by the conditions on which the agents encounter in the formation of institutions, new institutionality. The strength of this change is supported on signs of weakening of regulative institutions of the modern agri-food system, which are subordinated to normative and cultural-cognitive influences in the alternative system. In order to contribute to the discussion of alternative agri-food systems, short circuits commerce result from social structures built in social interaction processes that were institutionalized in time, subject to change, and understood when analyzing the context of the institutional conditions in relation to other levels of the social system.