The micro-politics of energy efficiency: An investigation of ‘eco-social interventions’ in western Switzerland

Households have a role to play in the so-called ‘energy turn’ in Switzerland, a policy framework that calls for more efficient energy usage. Against this backdrop, this article critically analyses the mechanisms and running of a programme aimed at improving energy usage among low-income households in western Switzerland, bringing together both environmental and social objectives or what was termed an ‘eco-social intervention’. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and informed by a Foucauldian governmentality approach, the power dynamics of this programme are exposed, and its effect on the lived experience and subjectification of both household members and energy ambassadors are discussed. We argue that while presenting the appearance of technical rationality and political neutrality, this type of programme seeks to govern behaviours and leaves the ultimate responsibility for the protection of the environment on individuals, rather than promoting more collective and inclusive actions. Furthermore, we unravel how this programme participates in the reproduction of social differentiation by aiming at a particular social group, low-income households living in subsidised housing. We conclude with a discussion on how initiatives aimed at households could engage with the more complex arrangements of everyday life, rather than solely individual eco-gestures, while accounting for power dynamics.

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Micro study of low-income households in India: a poverty expectation hypothesis?

Qualitative Research in Financial Markets ◽

10.1108/qrfm-12-2016-0051 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 2-14

Author(s):

Ashish Pandey

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Lived Experience ◽

Low Income ◽

Financial Intermediaries ◽

Large Sample Size ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Job Interviews ◽

Content Type ◽

Conversational Interviews ◽

Low Income Households

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether existing theories on saving behaviour and empirical findings on the determinants of saving behaviour can be generalised for the low-income households in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts Van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with female household members that belong to low-income households and do not have any member of the household with a permanent job. Interviews were conducted in the cities of Bangalore and Indore in India. Lived experience of participants was captured using conversational interviews and thematic analyses. Findings The paper provides evidence that the existing literature on saving behaviour is inadequate in explaining either the saving behaviour or the determinants for saving for low-income households in developing countries. This paper finds evidence of poor institutional access and reliance on informal financial intermediaries for low-income households. Research limitations/implications This paper establishes the need for a qualitative study with a large sample size to determine the policy interventions and institutional drivers that will encourage low-income households to migrate from the informal financial intermediaries to formal banking institutions. Originality/value To the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first qualitative paper aimed at understanding saving behaviour of low-income households. Extant literature is focused on normative economic frameworks that bear limited relation to the contextual realities of low-income households in the developing countries.

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