Sustainable consumption is going mainstream.
Ethical products can now be found in almost any store that a North American or European shopper might frequent, whether they are buying clothes, food, building supplies, pet food, or cleaning products. Not yet mainstream, but certainly on the horizon are new systems of finance and energy supply intended to be more sustainable – socially and environmentally.
Emily Huddart Kennedy, Maurie Cohen and Naomi Krogman go on to discuss.
For social science researchers, these new patterns of consumption pose a number of interesting questions:
- To what extent do these sustainable consumption practices reflect a process of social change?
- Are sustainable consumption practices a part of the public sphere? If so, how do these actions move from private households to the public domain?
- Does sustainable consumption lead to other forms of environmental engagement and activism?
- Does consuming sustainably feel different than conventional consumption?
- What are the drivers and barriers to changing big systems like energy and finance?
Putting Sustainability into Practice, an edited collection of research from eight different countries, addresses these and other questions. What this diverse collection shows is that existing theories from economics and psychology are a poor fit for understanding and explaining actions over which people may not have much control (e.g., the energy source used for household electricity), actions that are subject to mixed messages (e.g., advertising and cultural support for vehicle use alongside public messages to encourage the use of transit), and choices that are connected not to a rational calculation but to a complex set of emotions (e.g., nostalgia, warmth, fear).
In the hopes of providing a tool for students, researchers, and practitioners engaged with sustainable consumption, Putting Sustainability into Practice is designed to introduce readers to social practice theories. Social practice theories are quickly becoming a core part of the sustainable consumption researcher’s toolkit. This book provides a general introduction to social practice theories, demonstrates qualitative and quantitative applications of social practice-theoretical frameworks, and extends the reach of social practice theories into understanding how energy and finance systems influence consumption and how these systems can be changed.
The chapters in this volume have shown that there is reason to doubt that more information or different information will lead to systemic change in households, communities, businesses, or governments. The sustainable consumption activities that have become ubiquitous are linked not to more, or better, information but to shifts in policy, cultural norms, and urban design. That is, the actions of individuals and households are nested in broader landscapes of social, political, economic, and cultural structures. As expressed in the concluding chapter,
Social practice theories allow us to identify the mechanisms of everyday life and to understand both change and stasis as systemic. Such concepts enable researchers to link macro- and micro-scale processes that involve provisioning activities and shifts toward more sustainable consumption behavior. (p.231)
A theory offers us a lens, shedding light on some features of our physical and social environment, while obscuring other aspects. In the existing toolkit of theories to explain and understand sustainable consumption, social practice theories are unique in offering a viewpoint that does not lose sight of the individual actor but which situates that her in a ‘web of entangled elements’ as one chapter puts it. This web weaves together systems of culture, infrastructure, and products, along with social practices, and the individuals who ‘carry’ those practices – individuals who bring with them capabilities, values, and expectations.
This volume illuminates social practice theories in a way that can be readily understood by graduate students, scholars, and policy analysts. The effort invested to learn about the social practices approach will likely reap rewards in understanding how to put sustainability into practice. This worthy pursuit demands that researchers and practitioners delineate the many contextual influences that lead to social change and expand their own capacities to conduct experiments and pilot projects to inform social change. As the concluding chapter states, “The desired and unexpected ways in which social practices evolve require learning from existing initiatives, and the contributors of this book point to some fruitful lessons for a more sustainable future.” (p.237)
Read chapter 1 for free on Elgaronline.
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