Mikael Klintman
Professor
The Practice Approach in Practice: : Lessons for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that work towards sustainable food consumption in Sweden
Författare
Summary, in English
Recognizing the great potential of civil society organizations (CSOs) as drivers of social
change, this study examines how CSOs’ work directed towards consumers—in this case, to make food consumption practices sustainable—could be analyzed and improved through insights in practice theory. This research scope adds to the sustainable consumption literature by shifting the lens from the rich body of scholarship examining the practices of households or organizations themselves to how CSOs can influence household practices. Interviews with five different Swedish CSOs serve as the study's main empirical basis. To analyze CSO activities that target households, we use practice theorist Alan Warde's well-established
categorization of four integrative social practices of eating: (1) the supplying of
food, (2) cooking, (3) the organization of meal occasions, and (4) aesthetic judgments of taste. Unlike some perspectives in sustainable consumption research that focus on consumer attitudes and behavioral change, a practice theory perspective encourages a view of consumption patterns as arising from complex and necessarily social configurations of human action formed in relation to evolving infrastructures and institutions in a cultural and historical context. In agreement with this, we suggest that the CSOs would generally benefit from focusing on particular practices, practice elements, and communities of practice. The different preconditions under which CSOs operate—such as material resource constraints and symbolic power resources—should further inform their chosen types of activities. However, we also conclude that the scale of the necessary societal changes ultimately requires increased integration and coordination of practical and political activities, not just among CSOs but throughout all spheres of society. Finally, we briefly outline avenues for further research.
change, this study examines how CSOs’ work directed towards consumers—in this case, to make food consumption practices sustainable—could be analyzed and improved through insights in practice theory. This research scope adds to the sustainable consumption literature by shifting the lens from the rich body of scholarship examining the practices of households or organizations themselves to how CSOs can influence household practices. Interviews with five different Swedish CSOs serve as the study's main empirical basis. To analyze CSO activities that target households, we use practice theorist Alan Warde's well-established
categorization of four integrative social practices of eating: (1) the supplying of
food, (2) cooking, (3) the organization of meal occasions, and (4) aesthetic judgments of taste. Unlike some perspectives in sustainable consumption research that focus on consumer attitudes and behavioral change, a practice theory perspective encourages a view of consumption patterns as arising from complex and necessarily social configurations of human action formed in relation to evolving infrastructures and institutions in a cultural and historical context. In agreement with this, we suggest that the CSOs would generally benefit from focusing on particular practices, practice elements, and communities of practice. The different preconditions under which CSOs operate—such as material resource constraints and symbolic power resources—should further inform their chosen types of activities. However, we also conclude that the scale of the necessary societal changes ultimately requires increased integration and coordination of practical and political activities, not just among CSOs but throughout all spheres of society. Finally, we briefly outline avenues for further research.
Avdelning/ar
- Sociologi
Publiceringsår
2021-04
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
480-492
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Sustainable Production and Consumption
Volym
26
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Elsevier
Ämne
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Nyckelord
- Social practice
- Practice theory
- Civil society organizations
- Environment
- Sustainability
- Sustainable consumption
- Food
Aktiv
Published
Projekt
- MISTRA SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION: From niche to mainstream (Phases 1 & 2)
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 2352-5509