agape in action

Agape in Action: overabound in social life

ISA forum, Wien 2016

Silvia Cataldi, Andrea Gallelli, Gennaro Iorio

Starting point

Simmel, The Poor

“Poverty cannot be defined in itself as a quantitative state,but only in terms of the social reaction resulting from a specific situation”

Starting point

Simmel, The Poor

“Poverty cannot be defined in itself as a quantitative state,but only in terms of the social reaction resulting from a specific situation”

“This condition is determined by the fact that others – individuals,associations and communities – attempt to correct this condition. Thuswhat makes one poor is not the lack of means. The poor person,sociologically speaking, is the individual who receives assistance becauseof this lack of means.The poor as a sociological category are not those who suffer specificdeficiencies and deprivations, but those who receive assistance orshould receive it according to social norms”

(Simmel 1965: 138)

• Sociologically, poverty depends on a social reaction:

the assistance

• pure assistance contributes itself to define a condition of poverty, building social distance and stigma

• Can we theorize help/assistance in a way that create a social link based on the recognition of the recipient?

• How people act in favour of disadvantaged others in a way that provides help without social exclusion?

Agape: social action

• in which the agent refuses comparison or equivalence

• Do not involve expectation of return or reciprocity

• Is rooted in the present moment

• Do not expect social recognition

Case study: the suspended coffee

• Evolution of a social phenomenon:

‘800 -> economic boom -> 2000s crisis

Gambrinus Bar, Naples

Some customers of the coffee-bar, in addition to have a cup of coffee for themselves, pay in advance a coffee for a needy person

Symbolic value

The symbol behind the practice

• Coffee as social bond

• Small but significant of sociability

• Ritual dimension

Symbolic value





Some data

• Gran cafè Gambrinus: 3000 suspended coffees

• 7 bello cafè: 1500 suspended coffees

Symbolic value





Some data

• Gran cafè Gambrinus: 3000 suspended coffees

• 7 bello cafè: 1500 suspended coffees

A world wide network

• 60 bars affiliated to the network

• 280.000 followers all over the world

• Festivals and associations

Multiplication and differentiation

Multiplication of assets:

The suspended goods

• In Italy: pizza, bread, notebooks, books

• France: baguette

• Thailand: complete meal

Multiplication and differentiation

Multiplication of assets:

The suspended goods

• In Italy: pizza, bread, notebooks, books

• France: baguette

• Thailand: complete meal

Differentiation:

Various forms of generative and popular welfare

• The suspended shopping and the “food bank”

• The suspended vacationand work perits: see“Mathis law” in France and “solidal holidays” in Italy

Characteristcs of the suspension practice

1.it is voluntary


1.it is voluntary2.It is not due or necessary


1.it is voluntary2.It is not due or necessary3.It produces benefits to the recipients


1.it is voluntary2.It is not due or necessary3.It produces benefits to the recipients4.it is anonymous


1.it is voluntary2.It is not due or necessary3.It produces benefits to the recipients4.it is anonymous5.it renounces to direct reciprocity

Suspended good as AGAPIC ACTION

The practice of the suspension is an action of the subjects thatexceeds what the situation request. It goes over the utility, it isnot based on the expectation of the return.



Following Luc Boltanski in L'Amour et la Justice commecompétences:




• It’s not heroic because it is a minimum gesture rooted in everyday life





• it’s based on the renunciation of equivalence and of anticipation: is regardless of merits-demerits, without calculation and measurement method, indifferent.






• it is generative of new solidarity. Because the gesture of offering an asset to an anonymous highlights a capacity to direct their love towards humanity, it has the ability to internalize positive attitudes towards every neighbour. Maybe at the end, the beneficiary can become himself a promoter of suspended and a multiplier agapic gestures.






• it is generative of new solidarity. Because the gesture of offering an asset to an anonymous highlights a capacity to direct their love towards humanity, it has the ability to internalize positive attitudes towards every neighbour. Maybe at the end, the beneficiary can become himself a promoter of suspended and a multiplier agapic gestures.

• It generates effects such as trust, recognition, respect

Some concluding remrks

• the phenomenon of suspension has many characteristics in commonwith the agapic action•poor people are part of the social body, and they are no strangers;• in the case of agapic action, assistance can be based on recognition of a common existential condition: poor is included, is not excludedand is not spaced apart;• helping anonymous people means the recognition of sufferingand means taking it in charge in a process where all social members arerecognized in the common condition of life. • the social dynamic created in suspending goods is based on dignity and egalitarianism.

Thank you for your attention

Agape in Action: overabound in social life

Silvia Cataldi, Andrea Gallelli, Gennaro Iorio

agape in action

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