Redistributive Imaginaries: investigating prosocial contribution in the digital era
- Written byAlexandra Rodriguez Cifre
- Published date 14 July 2022
How does digitalisation shape our understanding of what it means to contribute to society?
Redistributive Imaginaries (Redigim) is a new research and knowledge exchange project bringing together universities and civil society organisations from across Europe to investigate meanings and practices of prosocial contribution. Over a period of 3 years, the project team will examine how citizens are increasingly using digital tools such as crowdfunding platforms to redistribute resources to others. The researchers will explore the implications of these developments for welfare states in Europe.
The Redigim consortium includes University of the Arts London in England, University of Zürich in Switzerland, University of Göttingen in Germany, Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain and University of Lapland in Finland. Dr Rebecca Bramall, Reader in Cultural Politics at London College of Communication and co-leader of the Digital Cultures and Economies Research Hub, is the Project Leader of Redigim and Principal Investigator for UAL's research team.
The project is funded by Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe (CHANSE), a joint initiative from the HERA and NORFACE networks, with co-funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
The consortium will work closely with 5 Cooperation Partners, specifically selected for their shared interest in securing democratically governed and sustainable economies:
- Digital/Organizing, a campaigning agency based in Switzerland;
- Fingo, a conglomerate of 280 Finnish civil society organisations focusing on global justice and sustainable development;
- Fundación Goteo, a non-profit foundation based in Spain that develops tools and services for co-creation and civic funding;
- Fund for Active Citizenship, a non-profit foundation from Montenegro supporting citizens’ active participation in political, economic, civic and cultural life;
- Kalevi Sorsa Foundation, a social democratic think-tank in Helsinki working to reduce inequalities, enhance democracy and tackle the climate emergency.
All Cooperation Partners will play a key role in disseminating the project’s outcomes through their extensive national and international networks. As Dr Bramall explains: “Our aim is to achieve policy and social impact by producing knowledge and results that our Cooperation Partners can exploit as part of their research, advocacy, campaigning and digital platform development work.”
Once the project officially starts in the autumn of 2022, the researchers will examine how citizens are using digital tools such as websites, apps, payment technologies and social media to engage in practices of giving, sharing and donating. They will explore how these new digital practices are shaping citizens’ understanding of what it means to redistribute economic resources for the benefit of others.
“In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis and in the context of climate breakdown, the critical role of welfare states, taxation and public investment has perhaps never been clearer. Inevitably, citizens’ demands that economic resources are distributed fairly have also regained prominence. There is an urgent need to understand emergent prosocial dynamics in order to address the future of welfare states in Europe,” Dr Bramall adds.
According to the researchers involved in the project, the insights and new knowledge created through Redigim will be valuable to key stakeholders working in the public and private sectors, including policy institutes, civic NGOs and digital campaigning organisations.
Project Redigim is supported by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council, Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación in Spain, the Academy of Finland and the Swiss National Science Foundation, under CHANSE ERA-NET Co-fund programme, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under Grant Agreement no 101004509.