In almost all affluent countries, information campaigns promoting sufficiency in consumption (particularly for energy) have taken place, and failed, falling short of their intended objectives. The failure was independent of if the campaigns had been sponsored by public authorities, civil society organisations or in some cases even by business. Neither education by NGOs, nor instructions by government or persuasion by business was effective -why?
One reason is that the efforts were almost exclusively based on appealing to rational decisions by individuals, using concepts derived from the Theory of Planned Behaviour operating with the homo economicus and its rationality at their core. However, this very core, and many of the conclusions drawn from it are counterfactual (if convenient), and campaigns based on them are bound to disappoint.
As an alternative taking the collective influences on decision making into account, the Social Practice Theory has been suggested; it analyses the characteristics and determinants of habitualised everyday behaviour. Unfortunately, it does not lend itself to immediate application to policy measures like information campaigns as it analyses consumption practices with humans considered as mere populations of carriers rather than as agglomerates of decision making individuals.
While one theory immediately lends itself to campaign planning, however with predictably limited effects, the other is not designed for such efforts, and thus hard to apply. Together this leads to a situation where the resources in good will and money are either wasted or not used, and unsustainable consumption patterns prevail.
Analysing the apparent weaknesses of both bodies of theory and their relation to empirical observations, and making use of analyses of human decision making from psychology and brain research, as well as from Luhman's sociology, we (SERI Germany, as part of the EU funded EUFORIE research project) have undertaken to line out some core elements of a synthesis, focusing on different dimensions of the affordability of behavioural change. They comprise
- subjective motivation and affordability
- social perception and affordability
- institutional affordability and necessity, and
- economic affordability.
While indeed most decisions, including most consumption decisions are taken routinely as part of long-standing habits, routine-changing reflections processes do occur and can be stimulated through social experience and communication. From this analysis, some conclusions can be drawn regarding the design of promising sufficiency policy instruments which do not fail due to unrealistic reliance on material rationality and ego-centrism, nor by overlooking the individual agency potentials of humans which belong simultaneously to different societal subsystems and can act as transfer vectors.
Key words
Sustainable consumption, sufficiency, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Social Practice Theory, affordability
5e. Sustainable consumption and consumers
