Localism, Mutualism and the Significant Impact of Anarchist Movement - Inspired Groups during the Pandemic: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of British Data on Greening Markets and COVID-19 Mutual Aid Groups

The theme of social quality is rapidly becoming an important lens through which to understand the societal processes which condition outcomes and responses to major crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Social quality is understood as a combination of dimensions, namely: social and economic security (socio-economic), social inclusion and social cohesion (socio-cultural), social empowerment (socio-political) and eco-reality (socio-ecological). But, underpinning each of these societal dimensions are principles related to influencers of local agency.The paper is framed around the development of the localism debate in Britain, over the past decade, particularly in relation to the engagement of civil society in a ‘big society’, to ‘level up’ between more and less disadvantaged localities. This debate has taken on a new urgency with a fresh dynamic, during the coronavirus pandemic, in relation to the activities of local mutual aid groups. As such, this paper examines the social quality influences on the distribution of some 2500+ COVID-19 Mutual Aid Groups (C-19 MAGs). These groups were formed to offer mutual help, within their localities, to those who had experienced a loss of social quality, through lockdowns, the need to isolate, and material, social and psychological deprivations. We test a series of hypotheses, considering which agents of social quality are most connected to the formation of these mutual self-help groups, particularly focusing on those that influenced the earliest and most agile, resilient local response to the pandemic. The paper presents empirical findings on the correlation between the C-19 MAGs and a range of variables drawn the 250,000 data points of the Greening Markets Research Group database. This is contextualised through a new theory of a localism continuum, related to the model of social quality. Findings are presented to show the relative contribution of different agents - related to the social quality – influencing the early adoption of Mutual Aid groups in British localities. One of the main findings is that the strongest correlation to the early and agile formation of C-19 MAGs reflects the local presence of progressive environmental organisations, many of which are inspired by anarchist principles. Conclusions are presented on the implications of these findings for the future of localism, social quality and public policy in the U.K., in advance of future 21st century crises.