Mental accounting in sustainable consumption choices

Author(s):  
Anna Weiß
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Casey ◽  
Maria Lichrou ◽  
Lisa O’Malley

Approaches to enhancing sustainability have largely focused on altering individual consumption behaviors. However, this focus on the individual consumer has been recently critiqued because the behavior of individuals is situated within wider socio-cultural contexts. Thus, the sustainability research agenda is shifting away from individual consumers towards understanding consumption practices, social networks, material infrastructures and organisations of various forms in which consumption is problematized and consumption choices are reflected upon and negotiated. These social spaces need to be understood if change is to be truly achieved. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in an Irish ecovillage, we examine how ecovillage members negotiate sustainable consumption at the everyday level. Analysis reveals how members of the ecovillage employ tactics that encourage reflexivity in the everyday. Specifically, these reflexive tactics work together to confront routine consumption, create alternative infrastructures that support sustainability, and foster critical engagement.


2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doris A. Fuchs

Our paper explores the implications of globalization for sustainable consump tion governance. It draws its central findings from a structured inquiry into the implications of globalization for the sustainability of household consumption. Our focus is on industrialized countries and the two consumption clusters food and mobility, which previous research has identified as priority areas for intervention. We find that for both food and mobility, globalization exerts a substantial influence on the sustainability of consumption through similar channels. Moreover, a significant part of this influence is exerted indirectly, i.e. affects prior determinants ofthe sustainability of household consumption rather than household consumption choices themselves. Based on our analysis, we suggest guidelines for the development of governance strategies in pursuit of sustain able consumption. In terms of general guidelines, we highlight the need for multilateral ifnot global strategies, as well as a comprehensive targeting of direct and indirect influences of globalization. Furthermore, we emphasize that governance strategies should pay particular attention to opportunities arising from the positive influences of globalization on the sustainability of consumption. In terms of specific guidelines, we argue that governance efforts should pay special attention to agricultural production conditions as well as transport options, as those pivotal determinants ofthe sustainability offood and mobility consumption are influenced by almost all ofthe elements of globalization. Likewise, we suggest that governance strategies need to address capital concentration, in particular, since the latter can be shown to influence almost all ofthe determinants of the sustainability of consumption.


2018 ◽  
Vol 174 ◽  
pp. 827-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Hüttel ◽  
Florence Ziesemer ◽  
Mathias Peyer ◽  
Ingo Balderjahn

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