• Labor Power in the Repair Shop: Circuits of Repair Between Solidarity and Poor Economy

    Author(s):
    Valeria Graziano (see profile) , Kim Trogal
    Date:
    2022
    Group(s):
    Environmental Humanities, Humanity Studies of Climate Change, Science and Technology Studies (STS)
    Subject(s):
    Dwellings--Maintenance and repair, Sustainable development, Consumption (Economics), Do-it-yourself work, Upcycling (Waste, etc.)
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    repair
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/k3gz-3m17
    Abstract:
    This paper presents the findings of comparative research into the labor, organizational and spatial practices of a new kind of hybrid civic spaces that we refer to as “social impact-driven repair shops.” These are an emerging typology of urban spaces dedicated to repaired and up-cycled items that also go beyond the functions of a traditional shop. Significantly, these shops are run not purely for economic reasons, but rather to position themselves as local, socio-political interventions aiming to confront the environmental impacts of waste, support ethical and affordable consumption, alongside providing new opportunities for employment. We focused our fieldwork (2017–2019) on three such “repair shops”: ReTuna Återbruksgalleria in Sweden, The Loop in the United Kingdom and RiMaflow in Italy. We discuss the differing labor and spatial practices taking place within each while highlighting some of the tensions that emerge, and the implications for some of the wider debates in repair studies, “green work” and circular economies. We conclude by identifying two divergent and potentially antagonistic circuits of repair which we name “repair as solidarity” and “repair as poor economy,” which we propose as a lens to better grasp the different logics underpinning the transition to circular economies.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1080/10455752.2022.2140065
    Publisher:
    Informa UK Limited
    Pub. Date:
    2022-11-7
    Journal:
    Capitalism Nature Socialism
    Page Range:
    1 - 19
    ISSN:
    1045-5752,1548-3290
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    4 months ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

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