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The Practice Approach in Practice: Lessons for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that Work Towards Sustainable Food Consumption in Sweden
KTH, School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE), Sustainable development, Environmental science and Engineering, Strategic Sustainability Studies.
Department of Sociology, Lund University, Sandgatan 11a-c, 22352 Lund, Sweden.
2021 (English)In: Sustainable Production and Consumption, ISSN 2352-5509, Vol. 26, p. 480-492Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

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 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.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2021. Vol. 26, p. 480-492
Keywords [en]
Civil society organizations, intervention, sustainable food consumption, eating, practice theory
National Category
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified
Research subject
Planning and Decision Analysis, Strategies for sustainable development
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-288832DOI: 10.1016/j.spc.2020.12.011ISI: 000640771000012Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85098462581OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-288832DiVA, id: diva2:1516701
Projects
Mistra Sustainable Consumption
Funder
Mistra - The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research
Note

QC 20210113

Available from: 2021-01-12 Created: 2021-01-12 Last updated: 2025-05-05Bibliographically approved

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parekh & klintman - 2021 - the practice approach in practice(538 kB)334 downloads
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Publisher's full textScopushttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235255092031410X

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Parekh, Vishal

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