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Abstract：
COVID-19 elicited a rapid emergence of new mutual aid networks in the US, but the practices of these networks are understudied. Using qualitative methods, we explored the empirical ethics guiding US-based mutual aid networks\' activities, and assessed the alignment between principles and practices as networks mobilized to meet community needs during 2020-21. We conducted in-depth interviews with 15 mutual aid group organizers and supplemented these with secondary source materials on mutual aid activities and participant observation of mutual aid organizing efforts. We analyzed participants\' practices in relation to key mutual aid principles as defined in the literature: 1) solidarity not charity; 2) non-hierarchical organizational structures; 3) equity in decision-making; and 4) political engagement. Our data also yielded a fifth principle, \"mutuality,\" essential to networks\' approaches but distinct from anarchist conceptions of mutualism. While mutual aid networks were heavily invested in these ethical principles, they struggled to achieve them in practice. These findings underscore the importance of mutual aid praxis as an intersection between ethical principles and practices, and the challenges that contemporary, and often new, mutual aid networks responding to COVID-19 face in developing praxis during a period of prolonged crisis. We develop a theory-of-change model that illuminates both the opportunities and the potential pitfalls of mutual aid work in the context of structural inequities, and shows how communities can achieve justice-oriented mutual aid praxis in current and future crises.
摘要：
新冠肺炎在美国引发了新的互助网络的迅速出现，但是这些网络的实践研究不足。使用定性方法，我们探索了指导美国互助网络活动的经验伦理，并评估了在2020-21年期间动员网络以满足社区需求的原则和实践之间的一致性。我们与15个互助小组组织者进行了深入访谈，并补充了有关互助活动的次要来源材料以及参与者对互助组织工作的观察。我们分析了参与者与文献中定义的关键互助原则有关的实践：1）团结而不是慈善；2）非分层组织结构；3）决策公平；4）政治参与。我们的数据还得出了第五个原则，\"相互性，“对网络方法至关重要，但与无政府主义的互惠主义概念不同。虽然互助网络在这些道德原则上投入了大量资金，他们在实践中努力做到这一点。这些发现强调了互助实践作为道德原则和实践之间交叉的重要性，以及当代的挑战，通常是新的，在长期危机期间，互助网络在发展实践中应对COVID-19面临的问题。我们建立了一个变化理论模型，阐明了在结构不平等的背景下，互助工作的机会和潜在的陷阱，并展示了社区如何在当前和未来的危机中实现以正义为导向的互助实践。
