Social Innovation for environmental sustainability would have as main aim to tackle environmental problems with innovative idea-development and implementation of products, services and modes that are social in their ends and means. The European commission has this expectation and is promoting that social innovation can help create new social relationships or collaborations, improve human well-being and results that are not only good for society but also enhance individuals’ capacity to act’ (European Commission, 2013a. p.6). The context of this action is wide including innovation in the market, promoted by the state, together with innovation prompted through civic engagement, grassroots initiatives and voluntary work. Taken this concept of social innovation into the area of climate change will include a wide breadth of activities however the expectations of what they deliver can be boiled down to two: what is the potential they exhibit for delivering specific mitigation/adaptation goals; the second refers to what is their organizational potential, under what conditions particular forms of social innovation achieve stability, and the manner in which they contribute to societal transformational change. This paper is concerned with the latter. It departs from the use of field theory that posits how it is possible to describe a field by allowing for a systematic evaluation of actors, their interests and their resources in a specific context, defining the object of interest, which is common for a specific set of actors (Bourdieu, 1992; Fligstein & McAdam, 2012). This research offers a comparative exploration of application of field theory to understand the dynamic interaction of citizen engagement into collective actions for environmental sustainability and climate change. The empirical work relates to the comparison of four case studies concerning two areas a) bicycling as a means of transport and sustainability and b) network creation in the transition to wind and solar electricity power. This theoretical and empirical exploration is advanced as part of the European project ITSSOIN (Social Innovation in the Third Sector 2014-2016)(Anheir, et al 2014) which has the goal of understanding social innovation as the main outcome of third sector activity. As the case concerned relate to climate action and environmental sustainability questions of stability and change become important, what happens in the new organizations, what trends are observable, and how may they develop in particular with regard to their contribution to innovation that leads to societal change.
Anheier, H. K., Krlev, G., Preuss, S., Mildenberger, G., Bekkers, R., Mensink, W., … (2014). Social innovation as Impact of the Third Sector. A deliverable of the project: “Impact of the Third Sector as Social Innovation” (ITSSOIN), European Commission - 7th Framework Programme, Brussels: European Commission, DG Research.
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European Commission. (2013a). Guide to Social Innovation. Brussels. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/presenta/social_innovation/social_innovation_2013.pdf
Fligstein, N., & McAdam, D. (2012). A Theory of Fields. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
