I don’t really have an answer, but do you think this is a trend in mutual aid generally? (ie, that mutual aid networks are generally dominated by less wealthy and marginalised people) Anecdotally, I was in a UK-based mutual aid group and the admin made the same claim. It’s possible though that your group and my former group just arose in online ‘bubbles’ that were dominated by these poorer demographic groups, and maybe there are other mutual aid groups where more wealthy folks do join and contribute.
Thanks for your reply! I’m definitely noticing this in all the mutual aid spaces I’m involved in, and what concerns me the most is that most followers are very young (18-24 years old)! Obviously, these are not the kind of people that are able to commit to for example donating $100 to someone in need on a monthly basis. What I’m not sure about is whether this is because the networks I’m involved in are mostly based on Instagram, or whether it’s a trend in mutual aid networks in general. Social media is ideally positioned to connect wealthy folks with those in need, though, and it doesn’t seem to me that many wealthy white suburbanites are going out of their way to establish mutual aid networks offline locally. If somebody knows of a specific example of a mutual aid network in which wealthy white donors are predominantly active, though, I’d be super interested to hear about it!
I don’t really have an answer, but do you think this is a trend in mutual aid generally? (ie, that mutual aid networks are generally dominated by less wealthy and marginalised people) Anecdotally, I was in a UK-based mutual aid group and the admin made the same claim. It’s possible though that your group and my former group just arose in online ‘bubbles’ that were dominated by these poorer demographic groups, and maybe there are other mutual aid groups where more wealthy folks do join and contribute.
Thanks for your reply! I’m definitely noticing this in all the mutual aid spaces I’m involved in, and what concerns me the most is that most followers are very young (18-24 years old)! Obviously, these are not the kind of people that are able to commit to for example donating $100 to someone in need on a monthly basis. What I’m not sure about is whether this is because the networks I’m involved in are mostly based on Instagram, or whether it’s a trend in mutual aid networks in general. Social media is ideally positioned to connect wealthy folks with those in need, though, and it doesn’t seem to me that many wealthy white suburbanites are going out of their way to establish mutual aid networks offline locally. If somebody knows of a specific example of a mutual aid network in which wealthy white donors are predominantly active, though, I’d be super interested to hear about it!