Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology Volume 2
- The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Part I Methods
- Part II Embodied Environmental Sociology
- Part III Beyond the Human
- Part IV Sustainability and Climate Change
- 12 Possibilities and Politics in Imagining Degrowth
- 13 Sustainable Consumption
- 14 Sustainability Cultures: Exploring the Relationships Between Cultural Attributes and Sustainability Outcomes
- 15 Socio-Ecological Sustainability and New Forms of Governance: Community Forestry and Citizen Involvement with Trees, Woods, and Forests
- 16 Carbon Markets and International Environmental Governance
- 17 The Multi-Level Governance Challenge of Climate Change in Brazil
- Part V Resources
- Part VI Food and Agriculture
- Part VII Social Movements
- Index
- References
13 - Sustainable Consumption
from Part IV - Sustainability and Climate Change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2020
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology Volume 2
- The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Part I Methods
- Part II Embodied Environmental Sociology
- Part III Beyond the Human
- Part IV Sustainability and Climate Change
- 12 Possibilities and Politics in Imagining Degrowth
- 13 Sustainable Consumption
- 14 Sustainability Cultures: Exploring the Relationships Between Cultural Attributes and Sustainability Outcomes
- 15 Socio-Ecological Sustainability and New Forms of Governance: Community Forestry and Citizen Involvement with Trees, Woods, and Forests
- 16 Carbon Markets and International Environmental Governance
- 17 The Multi-Level Governance Challenge of Climate Change in Brazil
- Part V Resources
- Part VI Food and Agriculture
- Part VII Social Movements
- Index
- References
Summary
In this chapter I summarize sociological literature on sustainable consumption. This review showcases, in public discourse, the prominence of consumer-focussed solutions and, in academic research, the predominance of relatively individualistic theories of engagement in sustainable consumption practices. Regarding public discourse, I note that despite compelling evidence that environmental issues from climate change to biodiversity loss are shaped by cultural and institutional dynamics like norms, state policy, and urban design, individual consumption choices are subject to much scrutiny in the public sphere. Regarding academic research, I suggest that social practice theories offer a valuable alternative to understand individual motivations in the context of broader social structures. Relatedly, I outline two related problems with mainstream, contemporary sustainable consumption. The material problem is that individual sustainable consumption activities like buying a hybrid car are largely unrelated to individuals’ environmental impact. This is closely tied to the second, symbolic, challenge—like any social practice, sustainable consumption is built upon class, gender, and race inequality. Inattention to these axioms of inequality constitutes a threat to the pursuit of a just sustainability. The chapter concludes with a discussion of future research directions on sustainable consumption, a rich and timely area of environmental sociological scholarship.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology , pp. 221 - 235Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
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