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13 - Sustainable Consumption

from Part IV - Sustainability and Climate Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2020

By
Emily Huddart Kennedy
Edited by
Katharine Legun ,
Julie C. Keller ,
Michael Carolan  and
Michael M. Bell
Katharine Legun
Affiliation:
Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands
Julie C. Keller
Affiliation:
University of Rhode Island
Michael Carolan
Affiliation:
Colorado State University
Michael M. Bell
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
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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.

Keywords

green consumptionsocial practice theoriessustainable consumption
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology , pp. 221 - 235
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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