Sustainable Consumption

Lecture 2
SMMV38, Autumn 2021
Tullia Jack, tullia.jack@ism.lu.se
Today: acclimatise ourselves with
Consumption, Sustainability and
Social Practice Theory
(un)sustainable
consumption

• Should the global population reach 9.6

billion by 2050, the equivalent of almost
three planets could be required to provide
the natural resources needed to sustain
current lifestyles (UN, 2020)
• In Sweden we consume at such a high rate
that we need four planets (WWF, 2018)
• Global Earth Overshoot Day in 2021 was
July 29
What do we mean by sustainability?
• 1 : able to be used without being completely used up or destroyed
• sustainable energy resources a sustainable water supply
• 2 : involving methods that do not completely use up or destroy
natural resources
• sustainable agriculture/farming/techniques
• 3 : able to last or continue for a long time
• sustainable development/growth
Three pillars
of
sustainability
‘Sustainable’-
critiques of the
word
• Catch phrase
• Virtue signaling
• Green washing
• Used for unsustainable
purposes
• Meaningless signifier
Google image search for ‘sustainable’ 23rd November 2021
 What should we mean
by sustainability?
How do you know something is sustainable?
• Biodiversity
• Water
• Energy
• CO2 emissions
• Land use
• Waste
• etc

Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, Å., Chapin, F. S., Lambin, E. F., ... & Foley, J.
A. (2009). A safe operating space for humanity. nature, 461(7263), 472-475.
• Sustainability is a huge question
and without going too deeply
into it let’s be critical of services
or initiatives claiming to be
sustainable…

• Now let’s move on to

consumption….
What do we mean by consumption?

Merriam Webster Dictionary To consume

• the act or process of consuming 1. Eat, drink or ingest (food)
• consumption of food
• consumption of resources 2. Buy (goods or services)
• use by or exposure to a particular 3. (feeling) occupies the senses
group or audience
• The document was not intended for
public consumption
• use of something
• the jet's high consumption of fuel
• the consumption of electricity
 • selection, purchase, use, maintenance, repair
What does and disposal of any product or service
(Campbell, 1995: 102)
consumption • social processes involved in the utilisation of
include? goods, services and experiences,
appropriation, use and demolition (Warde,
2016:60)
What was consumption?
What can be consumed?

Raw materials Products Services Experiences Ideas

 Where does consumption happen?

• In shops?
• Online?
• Only when you buy something?
 When does consumption happen?

• When a need or want arises?

• A once off purchase (e.g. solar panels) or a
continual subscription (e.g. energy)?
• Habits and routines in everyday life?
• Events and seasons e.g. black Friday, Christmas,
weddings?

Story of stuff
 Who consumes?
• Rational consumers trying to maximize
both monetary and non-monetary gains?
• Buyers locked into the production /
consumption system - never satisfied
'shopping zombies'?
• Cultural consumption, identity creation?
• Everyday life consumption - practice?

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/851813717004808035/
Who is hidden by consumption?
Why do we consume?

• To fit in and group belonging?

• Stand out and show cultural capital and
power?
What is (in)conspicuous
consumption?
• Resources needed to create and deliver a
product or service - inherent
• Resources consumed during everyday life -
inconspicuous
• E.G. Netflix, flygresor, chocolate, mobile
phones
(Ivanova et al., 2015; Warde & Shove, 2002).
What are some
factors in
consumption?
• Demographoic factors e.g.
Household size
• Income (rich consume more)
• Infrastructures e.g. public
transport
• Eating habits
• Housing type
• Location urban/rural
• etc

Jack, T., & Ivanova, D. (2021). Small is beautiful? Stories of carbon footprints, socio-demographic trends
and small households in Denmark. Energy Research & Social Science, 78, 102130.
 What are the critical consumption domains?

Wynes, S., & Nicholas, K. A. (2017). The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most
effective individual actions. Environmental Research Letters, 12(7), 074024.
Break
• (for the mini-workshop I want groups to present their practices)
Social Practice Theory
• Reconciling the opposition between agency and structure
• Bourdieu (1977, 1984), Giddens (1984)
1

• Performance of practices (inspired by STS)

• Schatzki (1996, 2001) Reckwitz (2002)
2
• Empirical application
• (Warde, Shove, Middlemiss)
3 • Gram-Hanssen (2011), Spaargaren (2003), Strengers (2013), Sahakian (2014)
What is a practice?
“...a practice is [...] a routinized way in which bodies are moved,
objects are handled, subjects are treated, things are described and the
world is understood” (Reckwitz, 2002).

…an organized, and recognizable, socially shared bundle of activities that

involves the integration of a complex array of components: material,
embodied, ideational and affective”
(Welch and Warde, 2015)

Practices are sets of doings (practical activity) and sayings (its representation)
(Warde, 2005, p. 134).

24
Elements of practice

25
A practice theory approach
• an account of practices, either the field of practices or some
subdomain thereof… or
• the field of practices as the place to study the nature and
transformation of their subject matter
• a social ontology: the social as made in and through embodied and
material social practices organized around shared understandings
(Schatzki 2001)
Social practice theory to understand
(un)sustainable consumption
• Social practices are the central unit of analysis
• Redefines what consumption is and where it happens
• Emphasises everyday practices, the inconspicuous, ordinary
• Shows that it is important to understand the various socio-technical
mechanisms driving (un)sustainable consumption
• There is more involved in consumption than information
Consumption is then (Warde)
• ”…consumption as a process whereby agents engage in appropriation
and appreciation, whether for utilitarian, expressive or contemplative
purposes, of goods, services, performances, information or ambience,
whether purchased or not, over which the agent has some degree of
discretion ” (Warde, 2005: 137)
• Consumption is here not a practice in itself, but rather a moment in
almost every practice.
• Demand for both products and services is embedded in practices
rather than a desire for the products or services themselves
Unpacking (un)sustainable consumption
• Various mechanisms drive unsustainable consumption
• Sustainable consumption is a social and practical accomplishment
involving competence and meanings and dependent on a socio-
technical structure
• When intervening in unsustainable consumption consider materiality,
meaning, and competence
Discussion
Break into project groups and discuss your practice.
1. What is consumed? What are the sustainability impacts ( e.g. water,
biodiversity, CO2)? What do you think are the most crucial to
address?
2. Where and when does consumption happen?
3. Who consumes? Who is made invisible?
4. Why is this consumed? What meeds are being met
5. From a social practice theory perspective how could you intervene?