Grassroots Economics. Meaning, Project and Practice in the Pursuit of Livelihood

The Grassroots Economics Project

The Grassroots Economics Project proposes a major shift in perspective in the understanding of economic processes, one that takes into account real life possibilities and strategies for making a living. This project seeks to take into account the models and theories about economic processes that ordinary people develop through reflecting on their experiences and evaluating their opportunities against the backdrop of state policies and expert discourses that saturate the social field. The observation of ordinary people’s everyday practices and understanding of economic constraints and opportunities will provide a better picture of the grounds where the coordination of economic agents takes place.

Research questions are based on the premise that we need to understand how ordinary people’s projects and those of the economic elites and institutional power holders are co-determined. By acknowledging grassroots economics and comparing it with expert models of the economy new theoretical ground will be opened that will shed light on present-day economic insecurity affecting the political stability of European political communities.